Qualcomm, Inc. v. Broadcom Corp.

U.S. District Court, Southern District of California

Senior District Court Judge Rudi Brewster vacated the Magistrate Court's earlier order sanctioning six outside lawyers for Qualcomm, Inc.  In January, Magistrate Court Judge Barbara Major found that Qualcomm and its retained lawyers 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.

In vacating the order and sending the sanctions issue back for further review, Judge Brewster ruled that Qualcomm's retained lawyers should have been able to defend their conduct and should not have been prevented in doing so by the attorney-client privilege.  The court found that the introduction of declarations by Qualcomm employees critical of Qualcomm's retained lawyers' services changed the factual basis underlying Judge Major's earlier denial of the self-defense exception to Qualcomm's attorney-client privilege.