On August 11, 2015, in Chavez v. Dole Food Company Inc., the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it applied the "first-filed rule" and dismissed the second-filed action with prejudice rather than staying or transferring the case (No. 13-4144, (3d Cir. Aug. 11, 2015)).

This case involved the alleged misuse of a pesticide on banana farms in Central America. The plaintiffs, foreign agricultural workers, alleged that the exposure to the pesticide was to blame for the health problems that they endured. In June 2011, numerous suits were filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against Dole Food Company, Inc. (Dole) and others alleging, among other things, negligence, strict liability and breach of implied warranty. The suits were consolidated and Dole moved for summary judgment arguing that the claims were time-barred under Louisiana’s one year statute of limitations. In September 2012, the district court granted the motion and the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit later affirmed the decision.

While Dole's motion for summary judgment was pending in the Louisiana District Court, the appellants filed several actions in the US District Court for the District of Delaware. These actions were brought against the same defendants and contained the same causes of action as the Louisiana litigation. Appellants admitted that the actions filed in Delaware were "materially identical lawsuits" to those filed earlier in Louisiana.

Dole filed a motion to dismiss the Delaware lawsuits arguing for the application of the first-filed rule, which counsels deference to the lawsuit that was filed first when two lawsuits involving the same issues and parties are pending in separate federal district courts. The Delaware District Court held that the first-filed rule applied to the Delaware cases and dismissed the actions.

On appeal, the Third Circuit affirmed. In reaching its decision, the court reviewed the contours of the first-filed rule, reiterating that where there is federal concurrent jurisdiction over a matter, the court which first had possession of the subject must decide it. The court found that:

The Third Circuit also held that the Delaware District Court did not abuse its discretion when it dismissed the cases with prejudice instead of staying or transferring the cases for several reasons, including that:

Practitioners in the Third Circuit should be aware that a district court has broad discretion to handle concerns associated with forum shopping and the first-filed rule, including the ability to dismiss a case with prejudice.