Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs
Runners-up this week include lawyers from Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel, Latham, Cravath, Kirkland, Cleary and Cooley.
July 21, 2023 at 07:25 AM
6 minute read
Quick TakesRunners-up honors go to a team at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel led by partners Debra Greenberger, Julia Kuan and Matthew Brinckerhoff. Last week U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan signed off on a class action settlement set to pay out more than $100 million to people who experienced a delay in their release after paying bail when detained by the New York City Department of Corrections. Nearly 30,000 people are set to receive at least $3,500 from the settlement, but that number could climb since claims can be submitted until at least early December. The plaintiffs' team also included Emery Celli of counsel Vasudha Talla, paralegal Carlos Martínez-Montes, as well as co-class counsel at Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick.
Runners-up honors go to lawyers at Latham & Watkins who got a win at the Third Circuit this week upholding U.S. Sugar's trial court win fending off a DOJ challenge to the company's $315 million acquisition of Imperial Sugar Co., which was represented by lawyers at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. The DOJ alleged that allowing Florida-based U.S. Sugar to purchase Imperial's Georgia-based refinery would leave only two entities in control of 75% of refined sugar sales in the Southeast. This week's ruling upheld a decision from last September by U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in Delaware who found the government overlooked the deal's procompetitive effects and improperly defined the relevant geographic market without considering the high mobility of sugar. The Latham team representing U.S. Sugar included partners Larry Buterman, Melissa Arbus Sherry, who argued the appeal, Chris Yates, Amanda Reeves, Jennifer Giordano, Lindsey Champlin, Kelly Fayne, counsel Elyse Greenwald, and associates Molly Barron, David Johnson, Charlie Dameron, Chris Brown, Matthew Piehl, Jesse Vella, Leah Wisser, Graham Haviland, Christine Greeley and Saffa Khan. The Cravath team representing Imperial Sugar was led by partners Christine Varney, Timothy Cameron, Daniel Zach, Peter Barbur, David Marriott and Michael Zaken.
Also landing runners-up honors are lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton who represented General Motors and Robert Bosch respectively, in beating back claims brought on behalf of customers who claimed the companies misled them into purchasing certain Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks by installing devices that defeated emissions tests. U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington in Bay City last week dismissed the suit with prejudice finding the plaintiffs' state law claims were preempted by the Clean Air Act and that they lacked RICO standing since they didn't purchase their vehicles directly from the defendants. The Kirkland team representing GM included partners Renee Smith, Jeffrey Bramson and Haley Darling, former partner Kate Warner who is now assistant general counsel at 3M, with local counsel Michael Cooney of Dykema Gossett. The Cleary team includes partners Carmine Boccuzzi and Abena Mainoo, associate Patrick Swiber, and senior counsel Matt Slater, with local counsel William Jansen, Jonathan Lauderbach and Michael Brady of Warner Norcross + Judd.
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Law Firms Mentioned
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Dykema Gossett
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Warner Norcross + Judd
- Latham & Watkins
- Jenner & Block
- Cooley
- Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co
- Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
- Steptoe & Johnson LLP
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
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