US Chamber Opposes Mandamus Relief in Litigation-Funding Appeal

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Lawyers for Civil Justice oppose the mandamus petition of Nimitz Technologies to vacate an order from Chief U.S. District Judge Colm Connolly for Delaware demanding that Nimitz produce a volume of documents showing how it’s financing its four patent infringement lawsuits against defendants Bloomberg, BuzzFeed, Cnet and Imagine Learning, said the Chamber and lawyers group in a Dec. 2 amicus brief (docket 23-103) at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Nimitz said Connolly’s order is an intrusive demand for documents containing information that shouldn’t be exposed to the public eye, including bank statements and materials protected by attorney-client privilege. The defendants say Nimitz has itself to blame for arousing Connolly’s suspicions by not fully complying with his standing order for such information (see 2212010035). The disclosure of third-party litigation funding (TPLF) “helps shed light on who is driving the litigation and whether litigation is potentially being employed for an improper purpose,” said the amici groups. “Identifying those with a contingent financial interest in a litigation helps the court reduce potential conflicts of interest given that some funders are publicly traded and those that are not may be comprised of elaborate networks of owners and personnel.” Lacking TPLF disclosures, a district judge “could unwittingly sit in judgment of a case in which he or she has a financial or personal interest, creating a conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety,” said the groups. Disclosing TPLF also is “relevant to settlement,” the cost and difficulty of which “necessarily increase with litigation funding in light of the need for a claimant to pay off both its lawyer and the funder,” they said. “Disclosure of the mere fact of TPLF enables the court and defendants to more accurately evaluate settlement prospects and to better calibrate resolution initiatives.”