First up is an appellate team led by lawyers at Alston & Bird and Alexander Dubose & Jefferson that got a major win at the Texas Supreme Court last week in the court's first substantive look at a force majeure clause in an oil and gas contract. The decision, which reversed an interim appellate court, was a win for their client Point Energy Partners Permian. The court held that MRC Permian's loss of its lease from Point Energy due to a failure to meet a drilling deadline in 2017 was the result of MRC's own calendaring error—not, as MRC claimed, an event of "wellbore instability" which it argued constituted a force majeure event that would extend the deadline. Former Texas Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson and  Alston & Bird's Rob Vartabedian handled oral argument for Point Energy. The team also included Conrad Hester, Connor Bourland, Alix Allison and Emily Fitzgerald of Alston & Bird, Scott Brister of Hunton Andrews Kurth, Craig Haynes of Holland & Knight, and solo practitioner Greg Holly.

Ashok Ramani, David Lisson and their team at Davis Polk & Wardwell get a runner-up spot for knocking out patent claims that client Comcast faced for integrating Netflix and other over-the-top apps into its X1 platform. After a week-long trial in the Middle District of Florida, U.S. District Judge Judge William Jung granted their motion for a judgment as a matter of law finding Comcast didn't infringe a patent held by WhereverTV for an interactive program guide. WhereverTV, which was funded by Longford Capital, had been seeking $177 million. The Davis Polk team also included associates Serge Voronov, Kathryn Bi, Alena Farber, Micayla Hardisty and Elaine Andersen, with Weil, Gotshal & Manges providing appellate advice to Comcast and Traci McKee of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath serving as local counsel.

Jessica Ellsworth and her team at Hogan Lovells earned a runner-up spot for securing a stay last week from the U.S. Supreme Court in the lead case concerning the abortion pill mifepristone they're handling for drug maker, Danco Laboratories Inc. The ruling puts on pause a Texas district court judge's injunction handed down earlier this month effectively revoking the Food and Drug Administration's longstanding approval of the pill. Ellsworth briefed and secured the stay while also churning out the merits brief in the underlying Fifth Circuit appeal, which was due this week under the court's expedited schedule. The Hogan Lovells team on the matter also includes appellate practice co-head Cate Stetson, partners Philip Katz and Lynn Mehler, senior associates Kaitlyn Golden and Danielle Desaulniers Stempel, and associates Marlan Golden, Delia Scoville and Eva Schifini.