SDM obtained case-determinative sanctions in favor of their client, Performance Chemical Company (PCC), in a patent infringement case against True Chemical Solutions, LLC (True Chem) pending before Judge Alan Albright in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas—the nation’s busiest patent docket.

After successfully defending Judge Albright’s decision to transfer the case to the Court’s Waco Division, SDM and co-counsel Daniel Scardino were set to begin trying the case on March 29, 2021. Shortly before trial, though, the PCC team uncovered evidence that True Chem had improperly concealed and withheld key evidence from discovery. PCC immediately moved for sanctions based on True Chem’s spoliation of evidence and discovery abuse.

At the widely watched hearing that followed, SDM’s Robyn Hargrove successfully argued that PCC’s conduct warranted so-called death penalty sanctions. Judge Albright agreed. In an order entered on April 6, 2021, the Court stated that it will strike True Chem’s defenses and counterclaims, enter a finding that True Chem has willfully infringed PCC’s patents, permanently enjoin True Chem from infringing the patents, and award PCC its attorneys’ fees. The only remaining issue for trial is damages.