A courtroom victory turned sour for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in May after the firm discovered that its client’s case was apparently based on deceit. But in its haste to flee the case, did Akin Gump reveal too much about its former client’s alleged malfeasance?
Akin Gump told a judge on May 21 that its client, a software developer called LBDS Holding Company, fabricated evidence to win a $25 million jury verdict earlier this year in the Eastern District of Texas. In a withdrawal motion, Akin Gump’s Sanford Warren Jr. wrote, “Akin Gump now knows that it offered false evidence and testimony in the record in this litigation.” He told U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis that LBDS’ CEO admitted to the firm posttrial that its damages theory was built on a phony contract and fake emails, and that LBDS is under investigation by federal prosecutors and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
