| | | Don't have time to do deeper research: look up the concept of "judicial estoppel." It may have some application.
I found (but didn't analyze) a Cornell Law Review article which did a deep dive into it.
(From another article): Judicial Estoppel: The Basics
The doctrine of judicial estoppel serves to prevent a litigant from taking a position or asserting a claim in a court proceeding that is directly contrary to a statement made or position taken in a previous proceeding. The authority to apply the doctrine stems from the court’s inherent equitable authority to sanction malfeasance. The stated purpose of judicial estoppel is to protect the integrity of the court process, but the doctrine is also applied to prevent the commission of a fraud upon a defendant. Generally, judicial estoppel bars a litigant from asserting a position that is inconsistent with one he or she previously took before a court, but prior inconsistent statements made by the litigant in nonjudicial proceedings can give rise to judicial estoppel, as well.
Most federal circuits have a test, framework, or rubric for the doctrine’s application. The law in the Third Circuit, for example, sets out a typical test consisting of three requirements. First, the party being estopped must have taken two positions or made two statements that are irreconcilably inconsistent. Second, judicial estoppel should be applied only if a party changed or adapted his or her position in bad faith or with the intent “to play fast and loose with the court.” Third, the judicial estoppel remedy must be “tailored to address the harm identified” and applied only where a lesser sanction would not adequately redress the harm done by the litigant’s misconduct.
Courts have held, for example, that the timing of the inconsistent statements is not necessarily determinative. Therefore, both statements need not have been made during the course of the same pending lawsuit. Nor is it absolutely necessary for both statements to have been made in court proceedings. For example, prior statements made to local, state, and federal agencies, or to insurance companies, if sufficiently inconsistent with a later position being taken before a court, can give rise to a judicial estoppel. The fact that the prior inconsistent statement was not actually made by the plaintiff himself is not a problem either, if the statement was made at his/her direction or on his/her behalf. For example, a statement made by the plaintiff’s physician that the plaintiff has authorized or endorsed in some fashion (by behavior or practice) would qualify. Finally, it is not always necessary to prove that the plaintiff actually obtained some sort of benefit from making the prior inconsistent statement.
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