Masimo Corporation v. The Vanderpool Law Firm, Inc.

INTRODUCTION

The Vanderpool Law Firm (Vanderpool) appeals from an order awarding $10,000 in discovery sanctions against it and three defendants, John Bauche, BoundlessRise, LLC (Boundless), and Skyward Investments, LLC (Skyward). Vanderpool represented all three defendants in a lawsuit brought by Masimo Corporation based on Bauche’s misappropriation of corporate funds while he was a Masimo employee. The action was stayed twice, once while Bauche appealed from the denial of an anti-SLAPP motion and again to allow a federal criminal case against him to be resolved. Masimo was unsuccessful in obtaining substantive discovery responses from the defendants – instead of boilerplate objections – and finally moved to compel responses to interrogatories and document requests. The referee supervising discovery at this point recommended the motion to compel be granted and Masimo be awarded $10,000 in discovery sanctions. The trial court agreed and entered an order to that effect, awarding sanctions against Vanderpool and the three defendants. We affirm the order. Vanderpool’s main argument – that it had substituted out of the case as counsel before the motion to compel was filed and was…