It's about as definitive as a defense win can be: In an arbitration where HeidelbergCement AG was seeking $100 million from water and drainage pipe maker Forterra Inc. and private equity firm Lone Star Funds under an 'earnout' provision of the $1.4 billion deal where the pair bought Hanson Building Products from Heidelberg affiliates, an independent account arbitrator on September 10 found that there was no payout due under the terms of the deal. Journalists and lawyers have a reputation for being bad at math, but even you and I understand this much: $0<$100M.

The leaders of the defense team for Forterra and Lone Star, Angela Zambrano and Yolanda Cornejo Garcia of Sidley Austin, are landing bragging rights as Litigators of the Week this week for that arbitration outcome. But as you'll read in the Q&A below much of the work setting the rules of engagement in the arbitration was done in a prior round of litigation between the parties that they handled at the Delaware Court of Chancery.