Law firm awarded $1.12M over withheld records

A state judge has ordered a San Francisco law firm to pay $1.12 million to Hawaii law firm Galiher DeRobertis Waxman for withholding tens of thousands of documents in a recent asbestos exposure case.

William E. Schane sued Tate Andale Inc., a Baltimore manufacturer of parts for Navy vessels, in 2015 for the mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases and injuries he claims he contracted while working at Pearl Harbor.

Schane worked as a machinist mate and quality assurance officer on the maintenance and overhaul of submarines at the sub base from 1979 to 1981. Many of the submarines used compressed asbestos gaskets manufactured by Tate Andale and contained asbestos packing.

San Francisco law firm Hugo Parker LLP represented Tate Andale against Schane’s claims. The parties reached a confidential settlement in the middle of trial in May 2016.

One day before the court started jury selection for the trial, Circuit Judge Rhonda Nishimura found Hugo Parker subject to sanctions for concealing and failing to turn over documents that Schane’s lawyer Gary Galiher repeatedly requested and knew existed from his representation of another client in a prior lawsuit filed against Tate Andale.

Schane’s lawyers wound up having to reproduce the documents at their own expense at Tate Andale’s facilities in Maryland less than a month before the trial.

In a 122-page findings of fact and conclusions of law, Nishimura said in a December order that Hugo Parker acted in “bad faith” when it continued to deny the existence of the documents and continued to sponsor Tate Andale’s claim that the company never manufactured any asbestos-containing products that could have affected Schane. Nishimura also said Hugo Parker lawyers violated their ethical and professional responsibilities under the Hawaii Rules of Professional Conduct and state rules for civil procedure.

Nishimura revoked a Hugo Parker lawyer’s temporary permission to practice law in Hawaii and ordered the law firm to pay for the costs and fees Schane’s lawyers incurred for revealing Hugo Parker’s misconduct to the court and for reproducing the documents.

Hugo Parker appealed to the Hawaii Supreme Court in November to get Nishimura disqualified or recused from the case. It appealed Nishimura’s order for sanctions to the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals in January. Both appeals were denied.

On May 1 Nishimura signed an order detailing the $1.12 million Hugo Parker owes Galiher DeRobertis Waxman in costs and fees according to her December order. It includes $411,767 in attorney fees, $10,012 in travel expenses and $668,773 for copying and photographs.

No one from Hugo Parker responded to requests for comment.