Defense Counsel’s Twenty-Year Representation of Plaintiff, Spanning Seven Months of the Instant Case, Does Not Justify Disqualification

The court denied plaintiff's motion to disqualify defense counsel who had previously represented plaintiff for 20 years on intellectual property matters and concurrently represented plaintiff in patent prosecution matters during seven months of the instant case because counsel's misconduct did not taint the underlying trial. "⁠[Counsel] has violated the Connecticut Rules of Professional Conduct. . . . However, not every violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct warrants disqualification. . . . [Plaintiff] has not . . . made any effort to identify any way in which it has been prejudiced or negatively affected by [counsel's] actions, let alone in a way significant enough to taint the integrity of the trial. . . . [T]here is no evidence that [counsel] obtained any confidential information from [plaintiff] in the course of its representation regarding the patent prosecutions. . . . [T]he subject matter of the current litigation is a different patent than those [counsel] prosecuted on behalf of [plaintiff], which representation originated from a joint venture with [defendant]. . . . Any substantive activity in [plaintiff's] patent prosecutions was completed with the issuance of the patents, the last of which occurred . . . over a year before [plaintiff] filed this case. . . . The parties agree that the extent of [counsel's] representation of [plaintiff] during the period of concurrent representation was limited to [plaintiff's] payment of an invoice and [counsel's] payment of a maintenance fee on the patent on [plaintiff's] behalf."

Rio Brands, LLC v. GCI Outdoor, Inc., 3-17-cv-00786 (CTD May 22, 2018, Order) (Hall, USDJ)