Case-Dispositive Sanction Affirmed

A case about allegedly stolen computer code concluded with a case-ending sanction against the defendant. The Fifth Circuit affirmed; in sum:

Dabral admittedly deleted evidence, delayed discovery on several occasions, and ignored court orders. And, when he was offered one last “chance” to “come clean” and submit an unmodified source code control system, he didn’t. Instead, he deleted more evidence and produced a copy of the system that had numerous other files missing. Per his own expert, those deletions were seemingly “intentional” and done after the filing of Calsep’s suit and even after the district court’s disclosure order. So, the district court concluded that Dabral acted willfully and in bad faith. The court didn’t reach that conclusion easily. Instead, it came after months of violations and a long evidentiary hearing. Only then did it make its informed decision. 

Calsep A/S v. Dabral, No. 22-20440 (Oct. 11, 2023).