A recent Bloomberg story, “Tyco Wins Bid to Exclude Evidence Against Ex-Director Walsh at Trial” reports that Tyco won a bid to exclude some evidence in a lawsuit that centers on former director Frank E. Walsh’s $20 million “finder’s fee” related to the purchase of CIT Group, Inc.  Walsh had asked U.S. District Judge Denis Cote in New York to bar Tyco from putting attorney fees into evidence at trial.  Tyco persuaded Cote that the fees were evidence of damages sustained by the company and that Walsh’s conduct triggered an internal investigation by the law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP, which was hired to investigate the $20 million payment to Walsh.

The ruling (pdf) in Tyco International Ltd. v. Walsh, states, “The investigation began in May 2002, and through this motion Walsh seeks to exclude evidence of only those legal fees incurred by Tyco for this investigation in June 2002 in the amount of almost $53,000.  This amount represents 5% of the June time that Boies Schiller billed for its work on the Tyco matter.  The motion to exclude evidence of the attorney fees underlying the request for the damages associated with the Boies Schiller investigation is properly admitted at trial.  The accuracy of the allocation of 5% for the June work will be resolved at trial.”