Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and a Pair of Shout Outs
Our first runners-up this week represent a pair of Army veterans who won a $110 million jury verdict last week in the 11th bellwether trial in the 3M Combat Arms Earplug MDL.
February 04, 2022 at 07:25 AM
3 minute read
Our first runners-up this week are David Buchanan of Seeger Weiss and Bryan Aylstock of Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis, & Overholtz, the leaders of the trial team representing a pair of Army veterans who won a $110 million jury verdict last week in the 11th bellwether trial in the 3M Combat Arms Earplug MDL. The win, the largest so far in the cases alleging the dual-ended combat earplugs used in the U.S. military caused hearing loss and ringing of the ears, or tinnitus, includes $40 million in punitive damages for each of the plaintiffs, William Wayman and Ronald Sloan. Buchanan told my Law.com colleague Amanda Bronstad that after the 10 prior trials, which resulted in five wins for plaintiffs and five for defendants, there's been some shift in tactics on both sides. "We got a sense of their defenses, and maybe the corporate defense last April wasn't there anymore," he said. "It's shifting focus from defending this plug to challenging case-specific causation. We've refined our story and are effectively taking the jury into the lives of these service members and soldiers and how their tinnitus is impacting their lives after service." Buchanan and Aylstock co-led the trial along with Shelley Hutson of Clark, Love & Hutson and Michael Sacchet of Ciresi Conlin.
Shout out to a team at Latham & Watkins that represented Camping World Holdings Inc. and the company's officers and directors, in knocking out a derivative suit last week at the Delaware Court of Chancery. In one of the first rulings applying the demand futility analysis laid out in last year's Zuckerberg decision from the Delaware Supreme Court, Vice Chancellor Lori Will found that the plaintiffs in the insider trading case hadn't sufficiently shown that any defendant traded based on material nonpublic information. The Latham team led by partners Andrew Clubok, Eric Swibel and Jooyoung Yeu with associates Kathryn George and Katherine Magaziner.
And one last shout out to the joint team at Irell & Manella and SL Environmental Law Group who previously landed runners-up honors last year for landing a $48 million verdict in Los Angeles federal court for the City of Pomona in an environmental trial over contaminated water. U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner last week denied a request for a new trial brought by defendant SQM North America Corp. finding the jury's liability finding was supported by the evidence and the damages award was not excessive. The trial team for the city included Jason Sheasby and Lisa Glasser of Irell, as well as Kenneth Sansone of SL Environmental Law Group.
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Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
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