A Cayman Islands judge issued a 48-page ruling in a high-stakes private equity dispute involving a US$2.4 billion life sciences fund. The merits involved complex issues such as privilege, discovery, and cross-border procedure. The judge’s criticism of Quinn Emanuel was more direct, focusing on an affidavit submitted by the firm’s lead partner. The judge stated the affidavit was seriously misleading in several important respects, including mischaracterizing Delaware procedure, providing a flatly inaccurate account of what occurred during a Delaware trial, and omitting emails that would have undermined the central argument. The judge concluded the only plausible explanations were either gross incompetence or a deliberate attempt to mislead the court, and stated the latter conclusion was driving.
"Justice Jalil Asif KC of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands issued a 48-page ruling in Unicorn Biotech Ventures One Ltd v ATP III GP, Ltd (available below), a high-stakes dispute over a US$2.4 billion life sciences fund. The merits of that dispute - privilege, discovery, cross-border procedure - are complicated. What the judge had to say about Quinn Emanuel is a lot more straightforward. The judge has some, ahem, pointed thoughts about an affidavit submitted in the matter by the firm, which he called, "seriously misleading in several important respects.""
""The only apparent explanations for it are that it was gross incompetence in the preparation of his affidavit, of a kind that is very difficult to conceive would occur within a well-resourced firm of the stature of Quinn Emanuel, or that it was a deliberate attempt to mislead the court. I am driven to the latter conclusion." That's from paragraph 130. The judge is addressing an affidavit filed by Andrew Berdon, Quinn Emanuel's lead partner on the matter. And when the judge went looking for a charitable read, he couldn't get there."
"According to the judge, the affidavit's problems were multiple - a mischaracterization of Delaware procedure, a flatly inaccurate account of what happened during the Delaware trial, and a conspicuous omission of emails that would have directly undermined the GP's central arg"
#legal-ethics #sanctions-and-court-orders #affidavits-and-misleading-statements #cross-border-litigation #private-equity-disputes
Read at Above the Law
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