Two years ago, a judge slapped McKool Smith and Sidley Austin with Rule 11 sanctions for bringing supposedly frivolous patent claims on behalf of their client, Allcare Health Management Systems. The firms managed to get the sanctions vacated soon afterward, but their efforts to redeem their client and undo a $5 million attorney fee award haven’t fared so well.
In a 2-1 ruling issued on Aug. 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed that Allcare must pay health care company Highmark Inc.’s legal bill for fending off Allcare’s infringement suit. But the appeals court remanded the case to the trial judge and instructed him to further explain how he arrived at his $5 million figure.
