Mark Hardin obtains favorable opinion from Supreme Court

Pierce Couch Partner Mark Hardin recently obtained an Opinion from the Oklahoma Supreme Court favorable to his client.  The rule against “claim splitting” precludes a plaintiff from splitting multiple claims related to the same subject matter into multiple lawsuits against the same defendant.  After dismissing the defendant at his request, the client filed a second lawsuit against the defendant raising a different claim involving the same subject matter. The defendant argued the second suit was barred.  The trial court and the Court of Civil Appeals agreed, but the Supreme Court reversed and ordered the second case could proceed.  The new ruling is fact specific, but held that for the rule against claim splitting to apply to an agreed dismissal,  there must be a clear agreement between the parties that dismissing one claim against a defendant includes dismissal of all possible claims that could have been alleged against that defendant.  The Opinion can be found at: TIB-THE INDEPENDENT BANKERS BANK v. GOERKE (oscn.net)