Affirmation of Death Penalty Sanctions from Fifth Circuit

Hunton Andrews Kurth 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 and the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling.

Hunton Andrews Kurth is one of the few firms to have obtained “death penalty” sanctions for destruction of evidence from a Texas federal court.