The global firm has been embroiled in a dispute with biotech company Diagnostics.AI
UK costs judge Nagalingam has criticized global firm Dentons for its conduct in litigation, reported the Law Society Gazette.
The judge said in a statement published by the Gazette that the firm was “somewhat obstructive whilst claiming in correspondence a desire to compromise.” The firm had been embroiled in a dispute over bills amounting to over £2 million with biotechnology company Diagnostics.AI.
Diagnostics.AI had brought the application before Nagalingam. The judge noted that both organizations had “made genuine efforts to either settle the dispute or otherwise work collaboratively to progress the matter.”
However, when Diagnostics.AI requested an inspection of Dentons’ relevant files, Nagalingam described the firm’s time estimate for compliance as “troubling,” per a statement published by the Gazette. The judge said that the same parts of the file “must have been identified to prepare the breakdowns [of costs], and one would not ordinarily expect a practice of the Defendant’s stature to keep disorganised files.”
Moreover, Dentons provided only a four-page reply to the points of dispute that covered 42 pages in total; the response tackled only preliminary points of the dispute per the judgment. The firm’s inability to give “any replies at all to the item by item points of dispute” was “was an unexpected development,” Nagalingam said in a statement published by the Gazette.
“Even if I were to accept the higher of the defendant’s estimated costs of inspection then I observe that those sums are dwarfed by the principal fees in dispute. The defendant is either hugely pessimistic or otherwise adopts an entirely unrealistic stance as to their anticipated costs in providing facilities for inspection,” the judge said in a statement published by the Gazette.
Nagalingam noted that negotiations had already been going for years and said that “if anything it is the claimant’s application which presents a realistic way forward.” The judge ordered inspection and for the costs of Diagnostics.AI’s inspection application be paid by Dentons to be summarily assessed.
The case is Diagnostics.AI Limited v Dentons UK & Middle East LLP.
