A biopharmaceutical company has again been made an example of in the Court of Chancery, with Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick finding its tactics in a Section 220 case were egregious enough to warrant paying more than $1.7 million in plaintiffs’ attorney fees.

McCormick’s six-page opinion repeatedly calls conduct by Gilead Sciences Inc. and its Potter Anderson & Corroon and Cooley counsel “glaringly egregious” and starts off with a reference to the court’s right to shift fees to deter abusive litigation, citing Gilead’s actions before and during the case as well within the scope of that right.