Our runners up for Litigator of the Week include Latham & Watkins litigators BJ Trach, Sean Berkowitz and Miles Ruthberg. They won big for General Electric, securing dismissal of a securities fraud class action against the company and its officers/directors in the Southern District of New York. 

The plaintiffs sought up to $20 billion in damages, pointing to GE's alleged failure to timely disclose a blade defect in its newest line of power plant turbines and events that led to GE's eventual $22 billion writedown of the goodwill in GE's power businesses.  U.S. District Judge Denise Cote dismissed the claims in full without leave to amend, ruling that the lead plaintiff failed to adequately plead that there was a material misstatement or omission and that any defendant acted with intent to defraud. 

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Mylan Denerstein and Greenberg Traurig's Steve Russo fended off attempts to derail the Belmont Redevelopment Project—a $2.7 billion project currently underway in New York that includes a new Long Island Rail Road station, hundreds of thousands of square feet in community and commercial space, and a brand-new arena for the New York Islanders hockey team.

 A local town as well as several civic associations and local officials sued in New York state court to stop the project, objecting to its environmental impact and the state's grant of land. The New York Supreme Court dismissed each of the petitions in full, leaving the Belmont project free to proceed unencumbered by looming litigation.

Steptoe & Johnson's Philip Khinda along with colleagues Thomas Barba, Patricia Palacios and Mark Murphy prevailed on behalf of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., which owns the mineral rights to develop the Pebble Deposit, one of the world's largest gold and copper mining projects.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the lower court's dismissal of a securities class action, ruling that the plaintiffs could not rely on the anonymous sources in a short seller report to meet the strict pleading requirements applicable to securities fraud claims.

Fredric S. Newman, partner at litigation boutique Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, served up a win for the minority shareholders of the Palm steakhouse chain in a long-running battle between descendants of the restaurant's founders. New York's Appellate Division, First Department, unanimously affirmed a $126 million judgment in favor of the minority shareholders. At issue: the appropriate royalty rate to use for the Palm name, logo, and other intellectual property.

At Durie Tangri, partner Galia Amram, together with associates Kaveri Vaid and Adi Kamdar, were able to get their client, an undocumented immigrant who is in danger as the ex-girlfriend of a drug kingpin, released from custody without bond.