Appellate Litigation

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

Secured multiple appellate victories on behalf of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in Florida's Third District Court of Appeal in a decades-long scheme to defraud the Republic during the construction of the Piarco International Airport. The Court first upheld the US$131 million judgment and later affirmed a US$16.5 million attorney fee award. The case involved issues of first impression, such as whether Florida's RICO Statute can be applied to foreign defendants whose conduct abroad caused injury in Florida.

PREPA

Secured a major victory in the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on behalf of GoldenTree Asset Management LP and other bondholders of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), appealing a ruling that their bonds were unsecured and entitled to a claim of only US$2.4 billion. The First Circuit ruled that the bondholders have an unavoidable US$8.5 billion claim secured by the net revenues of the utility. This consequential decision has been consistently reported as restoring confidence in the market for special revenue bonds.

Hilcorp, Inc.

Obtained a precedent-setting fuel gas royalty class action in the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The class action complaint filed by royalty owners alleged underpaid royalties on natural gas production. The court sided with Hilcorp, resolving a long-standing issue surrounding "fuel gas" royalties and their calculation in the context of mineral leases.

Varsity Blues

Achieved what The New York Times called a "stunning reversal" with a high-profile appellate victory in the "Varsity Blues" college-admissions case in the First Circuit Court of Appeals. We obtained a reversal on seven out of eight charges against defendant John Wilson, including all fraud and bribery convictions underlying the "Varsity Blues" scheme.

Sunland Trading, Inc.

Secured a victory in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Sunland Trading, Inc., a honey importer. The Ninth Circuit affirmed our dismissal of a putative class filed by domestic honey producers and sellers to protect themselves from price competition from less expensive honey imported into the US from overseas.

AbbVie Inc. and other pharmaceutical companies

Secured a victory in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on behalf of AbbVie and generic manufacturers of the hypertension drug Bystolic. The Second Circuit affirmed the District Court's judgment of dismissal with prejudice of all claims brought against the manufacturers, citing a lack of evidence. This win is the first time the Second Circuit applied the US Supreme Court's Actavis standard since 2013.

Samsung Bioepis—Humira

Achieved a unanimous victory for Samsung Bioepis in the Seventh Circuit appeal relating to the blockbuster drug Humira. This groundbreaking case rejected the application of Actavis to global settlements of biologic/biosimilar patent litigation, holding that the multiple early-entry settlements are legal "traditional" settlements that could not be characterized as "pay for delay." The case alleges a novel "patent thicket" monopolization claim related to Humira, which was similarly dismissed by the District Court.

Apex Clearing Corporation

Led Apex Clearing Corporation to successfully secure a dismissal of all claims in the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in which traders brought a class action against Apex Clearing Corporation arising from the January 2021 "meme stock" frenzy.

International Finance Corporation

Achieved a first-of-its-kind victory for the International Finance Corporation, first in the US District Court for the District of Columbia and then in the DC Circuit, the latter of which issued the first published decision from a US Court of Appeals in which the court applied the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to international organizations. Collectively, the decisions preserved immunity from suit for our client and other multi-development banks for the management of projects overseas.

Hangar Orthopedic Group

Obtained a dismissal of the case against the company, and its CEO and CFO, and succeeded on appeal in what became the seminal case on pleading standards for securities fraud cases in the Fourth Circuit of Appeals.