Non-party is sanctioned for vexatious conduct during discovery dispute
In re Intel Corp. Microprocessor Antitrust Litigation., C.A. No. 05-1717 JJF, May 14, 2008.
Farnan, J. This Court adopts Special Master’s recommendation that non-party be sanctioned for vexatious litigation conduct during adjudication of discovery dispute.
A non-party filed an Objection to and Request to Modify Special Master’s Report and Recommendation Regarding Allocation of Fees. In his report the Special Master concluded that the non-party had engaged in vexatious litigation conduct during the adjudication of a discovery dispute between class plaintiffs and the non-party which resulted in unnecessary delays to the discovery litigation. Declining to follow Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 53, the Special Master (relying on the Court’s inherent authority to sanction) concluded that the non-party should be sanctioned in an amount equal to one-half of the Special Master’s compensation for the litigation, including the fees allocation matter for a sum totaling $39,618.21. Reviewing the Special Master’s findings for abuse of discretion, the Court concludes that the Special Master did not err in imposing sanctions against the non-party. In addition, sanctions may be appropriate even where (as here) no finding of bad faith has been made. While no finding of bad faith had been formally reached, the Special Master noted in his report that the non-party’s conduct was tantamount to bad faith. The sanctioned conduct included taking frivolous and/or inconsistent litigation positions both before and after the discovery motion which were designed to delay resolution of this action and which resulted in a waste of judicial resources.
A full copy of the opinion is available here.
