United States: Hunton Andrews Kurth Obtains Affirmation of Death Penalty Sanctions from Fifth Circuit
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP represented Calsep (a leading provider of PVT simulator software used in the O&G industry) in pursuing claims against Ashish Dabral, and his related companies, for having stolen Calsep’s trade secrets and confidential information. Calsep believed that during the course of litigation defendants destroyed evidence, and therefore moved for litigation-ending death penalty sanctions. After an evidentiary hearing with testimony from computer experts from both sides, the district court found that defendants had destroyed evidence. It entered death penalty sanctions whereby default judgment was entered, awarding Calsep in excess of $5 million, including additional sanctions of attorney’s fees and expert costs, along with entering a permanent injunction against Dabral. After entry of final judgment by the district court, Dabral then filed a motion for reconsideration based on newly found evidence that supposedly vindicated him with respect to the destroyed evidence. The district court denied Dabral’s motion for reconsideration.
Dabral appealed to the Fifth Circuit arguing the lower court had abused its discretion by entering death penalty sanctions because (1) there was insufficient evidence relevant data was deleted, (2) Dabral didn’t act in bad faith when the deletions occurred, (3) the deletions didn’t prejudice Calsep, and (4) lesser sanctions were more appropriate. Dabral also appealed the lower court’s rejection of his motion for reconsideration based on newly found evidence. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s entry of death penalty sanctions whereby default judgment was entered, a sum in excess of $5 million including additional sanctions of attorney’s fees and expert costs was awarded to Calsep, and a permanent injunction was entered against Dabral. Hunton Andrews Kurth is one of the few firms to have obtained “death penalty” sanctions for destruction of evidence from a Texas federal court.
On October 11, 2023, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s ruling.
The Hunton Andrews Kurth team representing Calsep was led by partner Alex Gomez with partner Cameron Pope and associate Paige Dusthimer.