Runners-honors go to Steve Maslowski and Michael Kahn of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld who brought home a $20 million verdict for Boston Scientific in the company's long-running patent infringement dispute with Nevro Corp. over spinal cord stimulation technology. A federal jury in Delaware this week found Nevro directly infringed one Boston Scientific patent and induced its manufacturer to infringe a second.

Kirkland & Ellis partners Leslie Smith, Sierra Elizabeth, Mark Nomellini and Ashley Neglia also land runners-up honors for securing a defense verdict in the fifth bellwether trial in the multidistrict litigation targeting 3M with claims that the company's dual-ended combat earplugs were defective and caused hearing loss. A federal jury in Pensacola, Florida, unanimously found that plaintiff Michelle Blum hadn't proven any of her claims that use of the 3M earplugs contributed to her hearing loss and tinnitus. A Kirkland team that included Elizabeth, Nomellini and Neglia previously were named Litigators of the Week for winning a prior bellwether in the MDL.

Also getting a nod for runners-up this week is a team at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom that fended off an injunction bid from American Airlines seeking to bar travel technology company Sabre from deploying its New Airline Storefront display product. American claims the new product biases search results toward Delta in violation of Sabre's contract with American. But after a weeklong hearing on the injunction issue, Judge Tom Lowe in Tarrant County, Texas, denied American's injunction request. The Skadden team included partners Tara Reinhart, Joseph Larkin and Steven Sunshine, counsel Jason Liberi, and associates Michael Clegg, Dakota Eckenrode, Shaivlini Khemka, Evan Kreiner, Gregory Ranzini, Stefania Rosca and Anisa Somani. Sabre's team also included Jane Ann Neiswender, the company's VP, associate general counsel, litigation & technology, as well as Squire Patton Boggs senior partner D. Patrick Long and partner Jon Mureen.