Benchslap of the Day a Few Days Ago: The Qualcomm Debacle
We briefly mentioned that Carol Lam, one of the controversial U.S. Attorney firing victims, is now the interim general counsel of Qualcomm. If you'd like to know about the scandal that caused her predecessor, Lou Lupin, to resign, check out the WSJ Law Blog:
It’s something no lawyer wants to get — a ruling from a federal magistrate saying, essentially: “come on down to court and explain to us why you don’t think you should be sanctioned for your behavior.” But that’s what lawyers at Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder, based in Cupertino, Calif., received earlier this week from San Diego federal magistrate Barbara Major.The ruling was essentially a follow-up to a separate ruling made last week by San Diego federal judge Rudi Brewster. Judge Brewster held that wireless giant Qualcomm and its trial counsel, which included lawyers from Day Casebeer, committed “gross litigation misconduct” by withholding crucial evidence in a patent dispute brought by Broadcom. He ordered Qualcomm to pay legal fees to Broadcom, which could amount to $10 million.
Maybe the judge was biased against a firm whose name is a little too close for comfort to "case of beer."
L’Affaire Qualcomm: Day Casebeer Asked to Defend Itself [WSJ Law Blog]
(10) Comments
yay
SECOND, Ho-BAGS
Judge BREWster benchslapped that "Case of Beer"
I will fight anyone who's game. This site consists of a bunch of pussies. Period. Pussies. A bunch of liberal, appletini sippin' pussies. No doubt. Pussies.
Jim Batchelder is the best of people, and I have no doubt that this whole debacle was as big a surprise to him as it is to everyone else. My best wishes go out to those caught in the gyre caused by these unforeseeable circumstances, likely caused by oversight on the part of QCOM. Great attorneys -- every last one of them.
Yes, Batchelder may have been surprised, but the phrase "willful blindness" comes to mind. I've litigated my fair share of multi-million-document cases, and I'm CERTAIN that somebody at the firm knew SOMETHING hinky was going on.
If they didn't, they're simply too stupid to be practicing at the level they've achieved. If they did and didn't speak up, they're too stupid (or ethically challenged) to be ... oh well, you get my point.
It was 200,000 pages of documents, fer chrissake. And part of a lawyer's job is to INVESTIGATE the client's story. A lawyer who credulously believes his/her client without checking for inconsistencies is a fool beyond words. And in reading the judge's opinion, it certainly seems like there were enough warning flags that should have stood out.
Personally, I hope the CalBar appoints special counsel to investigate. I'd volunteer, too, although I'd probably be biased in favor of the death penalty. Presumptively; and let each of the named attorneys explain, in specific and humiliating detail, why exactly they should NOT be disbarred and potentially referred for any applicable criminal sanctions.
-- ET the merciless
Someone obviously slipped up. Maybe when the docs were found, it was too late and too embarrising to explain to client. So instead tried to cover up.
Tough situation particularly for associates involved who have to defend themselves. Going to be a lot of finger pointing in court.
Day Casebeer = otherwise very good IP boutique
8:49 it must be tough going through puberty while having nothing better to do than log on to websites and talk shit.
man, you missed the opportunity to say
too close to "case of beer a day"