Production of Incorrect Testing Data Discovered During Trial Justifies $1.5 Million Discovery Sanction

The court granted in part plaintiffs' motion for discovery sanctions and sanctioned defendant $1.5 million after defendant disclosed corrected stability dissolution testing data during a bench trial. "With two days of trial remaining, [defendant] revealed that its stability dissolution testing data was incorrect. . . . [Defendant's] decision to withhold the correct data caused a delay in trial, extra expenses for [plaintiff], and a drain in judicial resources. . . . ⁠[Plaintiff] is not entitled to all the fees associated with time spent analyzing [defendant's] ANDA stability and dissolution data. [Plaintiff] is only entitled to the costs it incurred reviewing the incorrect dissolution data. . . . [Plaintiff] is entitled to the costs associated with the deposition of current and former [employees of defendant's manufacturer], as well as time spent researching the relationship between [the manufacturer] and [defendant] and the ownership of [the manufacturer], because these tasks were taken in order to determine who had knowledge of the incorrect dissolution data. But for the misconduct, [plaintiff] would not have engaged in the aforementioned tasks. . . . [Plaintiff] is entitled to all fees and costs associated with [its expert] following the revelation of the misconduct. As a result of the misconduct, [his] expert report had to be amended in light of the corrected data."

Shire LLC et al v. Abhai LLC, 1-15-cv-13909 (MAD July 11, 2018, Order) (Young, USDJ)