Asbaghi v. Nydegger: Legal Malpractice & Patent Negligence

Asbaghi v. Nydegger is one of the largest jury verdicts ever returned in San Diego County and is widely reported as one of the largest legal malpractice verdicts in California history. On October 20, 2016, after a three-and-a-half-week trial and five days of jury deliberation, a San Diego Superior Court jury returned a gross verdict of $61,587,000 in favor of our clients, inventor Hooman Asbaghi and HBA Medical Group, Inc., on claims of legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty against patent attorney Neil K. Nydegger and his firm, Nydegger & Associates.

Case Identifiers

The Verdict, in Three Numbers

Verdict reporters cite different figures for this case, so here is the full breakdown. The jury returned a gross verdict of $61,587,000, consisting entirely of economic damages for future loss of income. The jury allocated 25% comparative fault to the plaintiffs and 75% to the defendants, producing a net verdict of $46,190,250. The Daily Journal recognized the case among its top plaintiffs' verdicts by dollar amount, reporting the net figure, while other publishers rank the case by the $61.587 million gross verdict.

What Happened

Mr. Asbaghi invented a self-sheathing safety needle for dental use, protected by U.S. Patent No. 6,530,905, and retained Nydegger & Associates, a patent law firm, to prosecute and maintain the patent. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office requires periodic maintenance fees to keep a patent alive. The firm allowed non-attorney staff to handle maintenance-fee communications using a confusing form on which the “continue” and “abandon” checkboxes sat an eighth of an inch apart. Mr. Asbaghi accidentally marked the abandon box, but he also enclosed a maintenance-fee check with “patent maintenance” written on the memo line, an unmistakable signal of his intent to keep the patent.

The firm's staff cashed the check, deposited it into the firm's general account rather than the client trust account, and closed the file. When the USPTO sent repeated warning letters that the patent would be abandoned unless fees were received, the firm's staff ignored them and never forwarded them to Mr. Asbaghi. The patent went abandoned; a later revival application was rejected because the grace period had passed. Unaware of any of this, Mr. Asbaghi spent years and substantial sums developing and promoting the product. When a major company performed due diligence on a licensing agreement, it discovered the patent was abandoned and withdrew, costing Mr. Asbaghi the licensing deal and its future royalty stream.

Why This Verdict Matters

Verdict publishers reported Asbaghi v. Nydegger as the largest San Diego County jury verdict of 2016 and among the largest in California that year, and it remains one of the largest jury verdicts ever returned in San Diego County. It is also significant as a proof-of-damages case: the $61.587 million award was built on projected future lost royalties from a lapsed patent, with competing experts in economics, damages modeling, patent liability, and medical-device markets, rather than personal injury damages.

Khashayar Law Group's Role

Daryoosh Khashayar of Khashayar Law Group, PC served as trial counsel for the plaintiffs, with co-counsel Kambiz Adibzadeh of the Adibzadeh Law Firm. The trial team presented five expert witnesses across damages, economics, liability, workplace safety, and the safety-needle industry, and prevailed against experienced professional-liability defense counsel after five days of jury deliberation.

Khashayar Law Group handles legal malpractice, professional negligence, and high-stakes business litigation across San Diego and California. If a professional's negligence has caused you significant financial harm, contact our San Diego trial attorneys for a free consultation.

Sources

This case summary is supported by the published verdict report at Jury Verdict Alert's report on Asbaghi v. Nydegger and the Daily Journal's Top Plaintiffs' Verdict by Dollar coverage, and by San Diego Superior Court records in Case No. 37-2013-00066639-CU-PN-CTL.