Bose McKinney Agrees to Pay Hefty Legal Bill in 'Chameleon' Sanctions Case
A well-known Indiana-based law firm has agreed to pay part of a litigation opponent’s estimated seven-figure legal tab after a June 5 order by a federal judge sanctioning Bose McKinney & Evans and its former client in an environmental contamination case for failing to disclose material in discovery.
Under the confidential settlement reached Friday, the law firm and its former client, Red Spot Paint & Varnish Co. of Evansville, Ind., are expected to split a legal bill that could total millions of dollars, reports the Indianapolis Business Journal.
The June 5 court order by U.S. District Judge Larry McKinney also found that Red Spot had forfeited its right to defend the cleanup case brought by the company’s neighbor, 1100 West LLC. When Red Spot withheld relevant material, the judge writes, the law firm “compounded the problem by, like a chameleon, becoming indistinguishable from its client and allowing Red Spot … to evade the truth.”
Both the firm and its former client pointed the finger at each other for the discovery mishap, as detailed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post. The two principal litigators who handled the case for Bose McKinney are no longer with the firm.
“We are very pleased that 1100 West and Bose McKinney & Evans have today resolved their differences in a mutually satisfactory manner,” says the law firm’s managing partner, Kendall Crook, in a statement provided to the Indianapolis publication.
