Counsel for the plaintiffs did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
The disqualification motion claimed that while Sanchez-Peralta worked as a law clerk at Arnold & Itkin in 2022, the firm had represented plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) concerning seamen’s claims related to Hurricane Zeta. The plaintiffs allege they were injured when Transocean forced them to keep their ship in the path of the storm when it hit the Gulf of Mexico in October 2020.
Arnold & Itkin alleged that Ahmad Zavitsanos recruited Sanchez-Peralta before her employment at the firm ended. She joined Ahmad Zavitsanos in September 2023 and became an attorney of record for Transocean in the Hurricane Zeta MDL in March 2024.
The plaintiffs argued that Sanchez-Peralta took confidential work product related to the Hurricane Zeta case in the final minutes of her employment at Arnold & Itkin. They also claimed that, according to her LinkedIn profile, she moved to Ahmad Zavitsanos and became a lead attorney on issues related to medical damages, witnesses, and records.
