On April 20, 2023, Magistrate Judge Ann Marie Donio of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey issued a comprehensive opinion concerning the appropriate level of sanctions for discovery misconduct. ...more
Discovery in a complex commercial case can feature its fair share of mayhem, particularly where it includes a large document production. Yet, where parties plan and execute information exchanges with reasonable diligence,...more
Few litigators like discovery. It can be extensive, expensive, and irritating. It can also lead to a motion to compel and the unpleasantries that often surround those motions. In general, Fed. R. of Civ. P. Rule 37(a)(5)...more
A federal judge in California awarded severe sanctions on Dec. 4, 2019 in the case of CrossFit, Inc. v. National Strength and Conditioning Association. CrossFit sued the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA)...more
Litigation tends to be expensive, increasingly so due to the burdens of discovery. (You can thank the advent of emails, text messages, and other forms of communication now documenting conversations that used to take place by...more
Parties to arbitration proceedings frequently comment that they appreciate the arbitration process because it is a faster, more efficient, and less costly way to resolve their business disputes. Unlike litigation, arbitration...more
In the long-standing patent dispute between Sophos and RPost, Judge Casper recently issued the oft-sought but rarely received award of attorneys’ fees, after finding that the case was “exceptional.” The suit began in 2013,...more
Late last month, in Klipsch Grp., Inc. v. ePRO E-Commerce Ltd., the Second Circuit affirmed a $2.7 million sanctions award against defendant ePRO after repeated instances of discovery misconduct. Finding that the district...more
District Court Abused Discretion in Ignoring Federal Circuit Mandate to Reconsider Attorneys’ Fees Under Octane Fitness - In Adjustacam, LLC v. Newegg, Inc., Appeal No. 2016-1882, the Federal Circuit held that a district...more
How many times have you said, upon receiving your opponent’s demand for attorneys’ fees, “That’s outrageous! Our fees are a fraction of that amount!”? Until recently, Texas law was unsettled as to whether you could defend the...more
It is not every day the U.S. Supreme Court pays attention to matters that affect the practice of discovery, but that day came with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. v. Haeger, 581 U.S. ___, 137 S.Ct 1178 (April 18, 2017). Writing...more
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified in Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Haeger that even a district court’s exercise of broad discretion to impose a civil sanction for a litigant’s bad faith conduct has to be limited by a...more
In Fulton v. Livingston Financial LLC, 2016 WL 3976558 (W.D. Wash. July 25, 2016), U.S. District Judge James L. Robart sanctioned a defense lawyer who “inexcusabl[y]” relied on outdated case law and pre-2015 amendments to...more