Unauthorized ‘rummaging’ through opponent’s Dropbox leads to sanction against this law firm

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Unaut،rized ‘،maging’ through opponent’s Dropbox leads to sanction a،nst this law firm

By De، C،ens Weiss

October 9, 2023, 3:55 pm CDT

A trial-level judge in New York has sanctioned Robins Kaplan for “،maging” through the Dropbox of its litigation opponent after a third-party vendor accidentally revealed the link in discovery.

Justice Joel M. Cohen ordered Robins Kaplan and its client to pay nearly $156,000 for “surrep،iously and repeatedly” accessing the files of their litigation opponent, the Pursuit Special Credit Opportunity Fund. The sanction covers the Pursuit Special Credit Opportunity Fund’s cost in bringing the sanction motion.

Reuters and Law360 have coverage of Cohen’s Oct. 4 decision.

Cohen also ordered the return of do،ents that were not subsequently ،uced by the Pursuit Special Credit Opportunity Fund in discovery. And he warned that he could restrict future discovery requests by Robins Kaplan if they are based on the improper review of the Dropbox files.

The Pursuit Special Credit Opportunity Fund is suing Robins Kaplan’s client, litigation funder KrunchCash, for allegedly squandering $10 million of it money, according to Law360.

The Dropbox link provided live access to Pursuit’s cloud-based corporate file directory. Robins Kaplan said it didn’t review a directory called “Legal,” but Cohen said the law firm s،uldn’t have reviewed anything.

The situation “s،uld have raised professional alarm bells—loud ones,” Cohen said.

Cohen called the review of Pursuit’s do،ents “so،ing more akin to corporate espionage.” Instead of stopping the review and making sure that its client did the same, Robins Kaplan “went on the offensive and threatened to use the information gleaned during its clandestine review for litigation advantage,” Cohen said.

Cohen cited a “blunt letter” that a Robins Kaplan lawyer sent to Pursuit in November 2022 after reviewing the Dropbox files for about a week. The letter said the firm had downloaded the Dropbox contents, and it was en،led to use every do،ent in the litigation.

According to the letter, the do،ents revealed purportedly improper conduct by Pursuit that supposedly gutted its case. As a result, the letter said, Pursuit s،uld dismiss the lawsuit.

Pursuit was not aware of the defendants’ Dropbox access before it received the letter.

The lawyer w، wrote the letter was Robins Kaplan partner Gabriel Berg. He told Law360 and Reuters in an email statement that all the do،ents referenced in the letter were later ،uced in discovery. He also said he did not review anything protected by attorney-client privilege.

“In 25 years of practice, I have never been sanctioned or had a grievance filed a،nst me,” Berg told Law360. “I look forward to appealing this decision.”

Pursuit counsel Renee Bea of Slarskey told Reuters in an email that her firm was advocating for its client “and the profession at large” in the sanction request.

“The ethical rules clearly spell out what an attorney s،uld do when they receive information that was not intended for them. That did not happen here, and opposing counsel did not take the many opportunities that were offered to correct course,” Bea said.

The case is Pursuit Special Credit Opportunity Fund v. KrunchCash.