Litigation Secrets: BigLaw Partner Fined $1,000 for Marking Briefs as 'Confidential'

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has sanctioned Katten Muchin Rosenman partner Daniel Shapiro with a $1,000 fine for the “extensive use of improper confidentiality markings.”

The court’s 16-page unanimous order in In Re Violation of Rule 28(D), issued on March 29, is accompanied by a six-page addendum that lists examples of improper confidentiality markings in the briefs. The order sprang from an earlier case, Sanofi-Aventis v. Sandoz Inc., in which the Federal Circuit ruled last December.

Shapiro represented defendants Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories Ltd. in that case. The recent order, authored by Circuit Judge Timothy Dyk, concluded that Shapiro’s use of the confidentiality markings was improper and “contrary to Rule 28(d) of the Federal Circuit Rules.” That rule allows parties to designate information in briefs as confidential if it is “subject to confidentiality mandated by statute or to a judicial or administrative protective order.” Circuit Judges Kimberly Moore and Sharon Prost joined the order.