Put a bow on that box, the $12 billion price fixing case over containerboard is all wrapped up.

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a major lower court win by Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz name partner Beth Wilkinson on behalf of Georgia Pacific, as well as Winston & Strawn's Michael P. Mayer for WestRock CP.

The Seventh Circuit previously upheld class certification in the massive suit alleging seven industry players conspired to fix the price of containerboard products like corrugated boxes.

“Before and after that ruling, most of the defendants settled with the purchasers,” Chief Judge Diane Wood wrote for the panel on Dec. 7.  

“But two companies—Georgia‐Pacific LLC and WestRock CP, LLC—decided to fight. They persuaded the district court that there was not enough evidence of a conspiracy to proceed to trial. We agree with that assessment and affirm the judgment dismissing the case.”

Hogan Lovells appellate practice co-head Catherine Stetson handled the winning appellate argument for Georgia Pacific, and Winston's Elizabeth Papez argued for WestRock.

It was an unusually perilous case. The plaintiffs argued that they're owed $11.7 billion in damages—a sum for which any of the seven defendants could have been individually liable.

One by one, the other defendants settled, including International Paper for $354 million in 2017.

That made proceeding toward trial a big risk for Wilkinson and Georgia Pacific. (For WestRock, which was only on the hook for conduct after it emerged from bankruptcy—the last four months of the alleged conspiracy—it was less of a roll of the dice.)

In August of 2017, a judge in the Northern District of Illinois dismissed the case on summary judgment.

“We are thrilled to represent a client that has the courage to stand up and fight when it has done nothing wrong,” Wilkinson said after the appellate decision on Friday. “Georgia Pacific's willingness to continue that fight after its competitors had settled paid off.  We congratulate them.”