Sanctionable? Let me answer that…

In U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, HM Electronics, Inc. and R.F. Technologies, Inc. squared off in a patent infringement battle. However, plaintiff HM Electronics said that the battle wasn't truly a fair fight. The company claimed that R.F. Technologies' lawyers committed numerous discovery violations, saying that the defendants willingly fabricated documents, while failing to preserve others critical to HM Electronics' case. In fact, HM contends that R.F. Technologies and its CEO not only failed to institute a litigation hold, but purposefully commanded employees to delete potentially relevant emails.

But the twist comes with R.F. Technologies' response – the defendants didn't deny the allegations. Rather, lawyers for R.F. Technologies argued that the actions the company had taken did not actually violate any rules and regulations. As the court noted, “Defendants and their attorneys do not dispute these events; they dispute whether their behavior is sanctionable. Other than admitting at the hearing on these motions that 'mistakes were made,' they are unrepentant and deny responsibility.”