Municipality of San Juan v. Exxon Mobil Corp.

In the Municipality of San Juan’s climate change lawsuit against oil industry defendants, the federal district court for the District of Puerto Rico found that San Juan’s counsel committed attorney misconduct by failing to respond to defense counsel’s communications regarding a briefing schedule and by failing to timely oppose motions or to request an extension of time, and also by plagiarizing from the complaint, briefs, and other filings made by different and unrelated counsel in a lawsuit filed by other Puerto Rican municipalities. The court found that the attorney “lifted not only the entire theory of San Juan’s case from the Municipalities’ Case but went so far to use virtually the very same words and ideas, usurping the thought processes and legal theories a client hires an attorney to develop and perform.” The court found that the plagiarism violated both the attorney’s duty of competence to his client and also his duty of candor to the court. The court ordered the attorney to show cause why he should not be sanctioned $7,000 for untimely filings and lack of diligence in the management of case deadlines. The court said it would issue a separate order to address the plagiarism issue because a monetary sanction “would be insufficient to address the seriousness of the circumstances.”