In one of the major Hurricane Katrina-related decisions, In Re Katrina Canal Breaches Litigation, 495 F.3d 191 (5th Cir. 2007), the Fifth Circuit overturned the district court’s decision that flood exclusion is ambiguous. Hundreds of claims are still being litigated in the district court where an order was recently entered dismissing duplicate claims. See In Re Katrina Canal Breaches Litigation, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1148 (E.D. La. Jan. 7, 2009).
In the current proceedings, Allstate filed a Motion to Dismiss Duplicate Claims, seeking to dismiss without prejudice those claims that are duplicative of other lawsuits filed within In Re Katrina Canal Breaches Litigation. Allstate argued the earlier-filed lawsuit for each plaintiff should proceed and the later-filed lawsuit should be dismissed.
The court noted that under the "first to file" rule, where a party has filed multiple lawsuits concerning the same facts, the district court can dismiss the later-filed action. This eliminates wasteful duplicative litigation, avoids rulings that may offend a sister court's authority, and avoids piecemeal resolution of issues calling for a uniform result. The "first to file" rule is discretionary, however.
Here, seven of the cases addressed in Allstate's motion had a settlement pending in the later-filed suit. Therefore, in these cases, the court found it prudent to dismiss the earlier-filed suits to allow the settlement discussions to continue in the later-filed suits. Otherwise, Allstate's motion was granted.
