Our runners up for Litigator of the Week include Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner John Chesley, associate Arianna Scavetti and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom pro bono counsel Don Salzman. They persuaded Maryland's highest court to reverse the murder convictions of David Faulkner and Jonathan Smith. With no physical evidence, the pair were convicted in 2001 of the 1987 burglary-turned-murder of Adeline Wilford based on testimony from incentivized cooperating witnesses. 

Maryland's Court of Appeals held that the prior convictions could not stand based on newly-discovered evidence of innocence showing the state suppressed exculpatory evidence that points to new alternative suspects.

A Cravath, Swaine & Moore team led by partner Gary Bornstein prevailed on behalf of Reynolds American Inc. in a judicial appraisal proceeding. At stake: the fair value of shares of Reynolds American common stock exchanged by former shareholders in connection with the merger between the company and a subsidiary of British American Tobacco p.l.c.

The North Carolina Business Court concluded that the $59.64 per share that Reynolds American already paid the defendants "equals or exceeds the fair value," and that Reynolds owed no additional money.

Plaintiffs lawyer Tom D'Amore had a $26.4 million jury verdict affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The award to Matthew Allison, a 27-year-old man who lost his wife Sara in a horrific crash and who also suffered significant injuries, was the largest trucking verdict out of the state of Oregon.

Of note, the plaintiffs shared 70% of the punitive damages award with the State of Oregon pursuant to Oregon law; the shared funds will go to the state Crime Victims Fund to pay for care for other victims of crime.

At Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Claude Stern and Ryan Landes won terminating sanctions for client WeRide in a trade secrets fight with AllRide. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila of the Northern District of California based his decision on what he termed a "staggering" amount of destruction of potentially discoverable material. (See my prior story here.)

Also at Quinn Emanuel, Rollo Baker won a summary judgment motion in Delaware Chancery after arguments held via Zoom. He represents CP Carco, which owns a portfolio of $200 million in auto loans, in a dispute with its loan servicer Americas Leading Finance.

Dechert partners Neil Steiner, Angela Liu and Rebecca Waldman led a pro bono team from the firm working with the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Kansas to challenge a Kansas voting law crafted by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The law mandated documentary proof of citizenship (such as a birth certificate or passport) to register to vote. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed the lower court's decision striking down the law as unconstitutional.