On January 7, 2008, Southern District of California Magistrate Court Judge Barbara Major issued an order granting sanctions against Qualcomm, Inc. and six of its retained lawyers for their collective failure to produce more than 42,000 documents.

In Qualcomm, Inc. v. Broadcom Corp., 05cv1958-B (BLM) (S.D. Cal. 2008), Judge Major found that Qualcomm intentionally and deliberately withheld tens of thousands of decisive documents, including emails, from its opponent in an effort to win the case and gain a strategic business advantage.  According to the court, one or more of Qualcomm's retained lawyers chose not to look in the correct location for relevant electronic documents and/or ignored the warning signs that their document searches and productions were inadequate.  According to the court, these failures ultimately led to a flurry of misleading assertions and arguments to the court and jury. 

The sanction against Qualcomm's retained lawyers included a referral to the State Bar of California.