Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Litigation Blogs -> Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog

Litigation

: Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog

Delaware Superior Court Awards Attorneys' Fees for Discovery Violations and Bad Faith Presentation of Defenses

By Francis G.X. Pileggi

M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Carestream Health, Inc., C.A. No. 07C-11-242 PLA (Del. Super. Apr. 21, 2010), read decision here. This 193-page decision  of the Delaware Superior Court includes a 'Table of Contents' which provides a detailed index with specific page references to different parts of the opinion.

For purposes of this short blog post, I will skip any treatment of the first 70-pages of factual background as well as the next 80 pages or so of the opinion that provide important details about the context of the decision of the Court.

Rather, I direct the reader to page 152 of the opinion (at the above link), which begins the discussion by the Court of the application for attorneys' fees, expenses and an explanation about why the Court awarded fees under Superior Court Rules 16 and 37 (which are modeled on the federal rules just as the rules of the Court of Chancery are). The Court also explains the basis for its award of fees for discovery violations and bad faith presentation of defenses, as well as the 'bad faith exception to the American Rule.'

For anyone seeking attorneys' fees in Delaware, or replying to such a request, in connection with: (i) alleged violations of the discovery rules, (ii) bad faith presentation of defenses, or (iii) the bad faith exception to the Americal Rule,  this decision is 'must reading".
 

Full post as published by Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog on May 09, 2010 (boomark / email).