Gloves Off: Boxers’ Lawsuit Highlights Sanctionable Depo Misconduct

Manny and Floyd can’t stop fighting. Recently, counsel for the promoter of Boxer Manny Pacquiao, Top Rank Inc., moved for another opportunity to depose an investment firm, as part of a $100 million antitrust lawsuit against the firm and Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s manager, saying its attorneys’ “obstructionist behavior” barred proper questioning. According to Top Rank, counsel for the deponent obstructed the proceeding by instructing the witness not to answer several questions and by failing to prepare the representative for the line of questioning Top …

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AOM Failure Closes the Door, but for How Long?

To minimize frivolous professional malpractice claims, many states have enacted affidavit of merit statutes.  The range and substance of these statutes can be dizzying; indeed, that’s why we recently published a handy table with requirements and resources for each state.  The AOM rules provide defense attorneys with an important tool to help defend malpractice claims in certain jurisdictions. In the extreme scenario, dismissal may be appropriate due to a faulty, lacking or late AOM. But, the question remains, whether the plaintiff has the opportunity to …

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Overzealous Advocacy Leads to Sanctions: Part II

Attorneys have an obligation to provide zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients and to pursue a client’s interests within the bounds of the law. We recently posted an example of an attorney that crossed the line. Here’s another example which resulted in sanctions imposed upon an attorney for discovery abuse. In both cases, sanctions were levied against attorneys defending a deposition. Accordingly, we’ll take the opportunity to provide some tips to avoid a similar result in your practice.

In this recent example, a U.S. …

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