Legal News

Sanctions Lifted Against Qualcomm Lawyers (After Damage is Done)

By Ashby Jones

In the world of corporate litigation, federal magistrate Barbara Major’s ruling in January 2008, was a jaw-dropper.

Major issued sanctions against six outside lawyers working for Qualcomm for mishandling evidence in long-running litigation against Broadcom, calling the violations “monumental.” She referred the conduct of five lawyers from Day Casebeer and one from Heller Ehrman to the California State Bar Association for an investigation of possible ethical violations. Here is the 48-page ruling, and the WSJ story.

A lot’s happened in the intervening two years, as the American Lawyer’s Alison Frankel writes. Qualcomm settled its litigation with Broadcom; Day Casebeer was acquired by Howrey; and Heller folded.

And now, alas, Judge Major has changed her tune about punishment for the lawyers. Major lifted the sanctions in this order on Monday. Click here for a story from Zusha Elinson at the Recorder.

So how does this happen? Well, the Qualcomm Six had been barred by the attorney-client privilege from telling Judge Major their side of the story. But Qualcomm ultimately waived the privilege, allowing the lawyers to talk. What she found was not intentional bad conduct, but something less sinister.

“Major wrote that there was ‘an incredible breakdown in communication’ between everyone involved in discovery,” Elinson reports. “But she didn’t find that the lawyers had done it on purpose.”

It all comes too late, Elinson notes, for four of the Day Casebeer lawyers, who’ve since left the practice of law. The Heller partner exonerated in Major’s new order is now an IP partner at Covington & Burling.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 07, 2010 (boomark / email).