U.S. District Court Judge James M. Moody Jr. recently told Zest Labs Inc. and its attorneys that he is considering sanctions against them in connection with a trade secrets case that had resulted in a $115 million jury verdict against Walmart Inc. before it was tossed.
As a punishment, Moody said he is considering whether Zest or its trial attorneys, or both, should be ordered to pay Walmart’s attorneys’ fees up to and including $2.87 million.
If you recall, that April 2021 jury verdict was thrown out, and a new trial ordered in December.
After the trial in 2021, the Bentonville retailer said it discovered evidence that attorneys for Ecoark Holdings Inc., formerly of Rogers and now of San Antonio, and a subsidiary, Zest Labs, had information regarding its patent applications that would have shaken the plaintiffs’ case.
Zest’s lawsuit involved allegations that Walmart took trade secrets from Zest Labs for supply-chain technologies used to manage fresh produce and meats. But Walmart argued that Zest had misrepresented evidence and even destroyed some of it.
In Moody’s order on July 9, he said that in light of the recent 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision involving the Sanford Law Firm, he was providing notice to Zest Labs and their attorneys that he was considering punishing them for “their misrepresentation to the Court regarding their knowledge of the Walmart Patent Application and the timing of their knowledge.”
The plaintiffs were represented by the law firms Williams Simons & Landis of Austin, Texas, Carmel Milazzo & DiChiara of New York, Robins Kaplan LLP of Minneapolis and McDaniel Wolff PLLC of Little Rock.
The new trial is set for Jan. 21 in Little Rock federal court.
The post Zest Labs Faces Possible Sanctions in Walmart Dispute<img src="/wp-content/themes/wpp-ark-biz-wp/images/key-icon.svg" alt="Lock Icon" class="lock-icon"> appeared first on Arkansas Business — Business News, Real Estate, Law, Construction.