High-stakes litigation can be contentious, and the pressures often lead adverse parties and their counsel to engage in patently inappropriate conduct. In this case, E&C’s efforts to prosecute claims on behalf of its clients triggered extraordinarily disruptive conduct on behalf of both the defendants and defense counsel. E&C argued that the conduct was plainly sanctionable. The court concurred, imposing stiff monetary sanctions and issuing a decision highly critical of defendant and defense counsel alike.