The federal judge in San Francisco has directed Meta Platforms Inc. and its legal department Gibson Dunn to pay a substantial sum of $925,078 for attempting to make the litigation process challenging and burdensome for the opposing party in a data privacy dispute. According to the case, which was lodged in California, Facebook, which is owned by Meta Platforms, exchanged confidential information with other businesses.
The social media conglomerate and its legal team were creating delay, misdirection, and baseless arguments, the U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled on Thursday. The judge continued by stating that even though this sum may appear to be insignificant to businesses like Facebook and Gibson Dunn, it is crucial for courts to shield litigants from monetary loss brought on by the improper conduct of their adversaries throughout the case.
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Chhabria cited multiple instances of the firm’s denials of the plaintiff’s claims and referred to them as “ridiculous” and “repeated over and over and over again.” Facebook and Gibson Dunn kept making the same assertions despite the presiding magistrate judge constantly informing them that their justifications were illogical.
According to the judge’s ruling, the plaintiffs were unable to gather critical information during depositions because of Facebook witnesses and attorneys. The judge deemed it “improper” that a Gibson Dunn attorney during one deposition gave the witness instructions not to respond to at least 22 questions. Without even waiting for objections, the witness refused to answer any further questions during the hostile deposition.
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In addition to claiming that the plaintiffs’ attempts to acquire discovery were pointless, Facebook and Gibson Dunn also accused the plaintiffs’ attorneys of dragging out the proceedings. The court, on the other hand, believed that this was part of a “sustained, coordinated, bad-faith effort to hurl hurdle after roadblock in front of the plaintiffs” in an effort to settle the case for less than it was worth.
What actions Meta Platforms and Gibson Dunn will take in reaction to the judge’s decision is yet unknown. Requests for response from Meta and Gibson Dunn officials have gone unanswered. This most recent development in the litigation serves as a harsh reminder that businesses and their attorneys must treat the other side fairly in a court of law and must not try to mislead or hinder them.
