Our first runner-up this week is Lorin Reisner who led a team from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to a trial win for Bloomberg L.P. Following a nine-day bench trial in the Southern District of New York in October, U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan found last week that Bloomberg properly terminated its licensing agreement with Optima Media Group Limited to start a broadcast outlet in Africa since Optima had become insolvent. Nathan denied all $50 million of Optima’s claims and awarded Bloomberg $17.4 million on its breach-of-contract counterclaims related to Optima’s failure to satisfy its programming, management and payment obligations. Nathan also awarded Bloomberg attorneys’ fees and other costs. Paul Weiss associates Marissa Doran, Luke O’Brien, Nicholas Handler, and Naomi Jeehee Yang also represented Bloomberg in the matter.
Jeffrey Berkowitz, Danny Awdeh and a team of attorneys at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner land a runner-up spot this week for fending off a summary judgment bid by Amazon seeking to knock out a trademark lawsuit they’re handling for client Maglula. The privately held Israeli corporation has accused Amazon of selling knockoffs of its UpLULA gun magazine loader. In denying summary judgment, U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady in Alexandria, Virginia, wrote: “This is simply not a case where Amazon can deflect liability, nor will Amazon be viewed favorably by a jury or the public.” The Finnegan team also included Dave Mroz, Sonja Sahlsten, and Morgan Smith.
