Our runners up for Litigator of the Week include Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Tom Dupree, who persuaded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to reverse and decertify a massive disability-discrimination class action, Harris v. Union Pacific Railroad Company. 

In February of 2019, the district court in Nebraska certified a class of more than 7,000 current and former Union Pacific employees who alleged the company's methods of ensuring that workers in safety-critical jobs are fit for duty violated the ADA. On appeal, the Eighth Circuit de-certified the class, ruling that determining whether Union Pacific's policy was discriminatory will require individualized inquiries that turn on the nature of the job and the employee's disability. 

Greenberg Traurig's Vincent Chieffo delivered a win for singer Katy Perry, persuading a federal judge in Los Angeles to toss a $2.8 million verdict. In July, a jury sided with a Christian rap artist who claimed that an eight note sequence in Perry's hit "Dark Horse" was stolen from one of his songs called "Joyful Noise." U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder vacated the verdict, ruling that the plaintiff didn't prove the songs were similar enough to constitute infringement.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore partner Lauren Moskowitz got a $170 million claim in the Southern District of New York dismissed against AngloGold Ashanti in a lawsuit involving a gold mine in Colorado. Newmont Mining Corp. alleged that AngloGold failed to disclose certain material information in connection with its $820 million sale of the mine to Newmont. 

A team from Latham & Watkins led by partners Bert Reiser and David Callahan drove home a win in a fight over electronic vehicle battery trade secrets at the International Trade Commission. Latham client LG Chem sued SKI International Co., alleging that dozens of former employees brought trade secrets with them when they jumped to SKI. After what my colleague Scott Graham described as "devastating findings of fact," the ITC administration law judge issued a default ruling, citing "acts committed with bad faith" by SKI.

Jenner & Block partner Craig Martin prevailed for Northwestern University. He convinced the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to affirm a lower court decision dismissing a proposed class action that accused the university of mismanaging workers' retirement savings. 

Jenna Dabbs, Sean Hecker and Joshua Matz of Kaplan Hecker & Fink won a powerful ruling from the Second Circuit on behalf of the Federal Defenders of New York. The Kaplan Hecker attorneys sued the Bureau of Prisons and Warden Herman Quay last year after Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn failed to permit legal visitation during the government shutdown and a subsequent weather event, in violation of applicable regulations and the Sixth Amendment. 

The Second Circuit ordered the immediate appointment of a mediator to "facilitate the adoption of procedures for dealing with ongoing and future emergencies, including the COVID-19 outbreak." Former AG Loretta Lynch will serve as the mediator.

In Florida, Kirkland & Ellis litigators Devin Anderson, Katherine Canning and Craig Primis booked a win for client Tripadvisor along with co-defendants Aribnb and HomeAway.  The Tax Collector in Palm Beach County sued these platforms, claiming they were obligated to collect and remit tourist taxes on rentals booked through their sites. Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal held that the platforms themselves did not engage in the taxable activity of renting accommodations and so did not have tax liability.