Legal Malpractice

Huge Akin Gump Legal Malpractice Verdict

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

This case has been widely reported, and we covered it a month ago, too.  Here, from the Blog of Legal Times we read about the $ 72 million legal malpractice verdict based upon patent law.

"Yesterday, a federal jury in San Antonio slapped Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld with a $72.6 million judgment for botching a patent application filed by a Texas-based company and an inventor.

Akin Gump had been hired in 1995 to handle a series of patent applications for Air Measurement Technologies, a company created by Louis Stumberg Jr. and his partner, James Fulton, who had invented an automatic 'man down alarm' for firefighters and other emergency personnel. Stumberg currently lives in San Antonio, and Fulton died in 2001.

In their complaint, AMT, North-South Corp., which held a license on the invention, and Stumberg accused the firm of failing to disclose information to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Plaintiffs also accused former Akin Gump partner Gary Hamilton, now a name partner at Hamilton & Terrile in Austin, of withholding information with the intent to deceive the PTO.

AMT and Stumberg initially sued six parties for infringement, and received settlements totaling $9 million. "

"In a statement, Akin Gump says, 'A judgment has not yet been entered on the verdict against Akin Gump. However, if a judgment is entered, Akin Gump will appeal because the evidence does not support the jury's verdict.'

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on May 11, 2009 (boomark / email).