Runners-up honors this week go to Christopher Morvillo and Dan Silver and their team at Clifford Chance for their continued work for Lawrence Hoskins, a British national who worked for French industrial conglomerate Alstom. A split Second Circuit panel last week upheld Hoskins’ post-trial acquittal on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges tied to a scheme to bribe Indonesian officials to secure a $118 million power contract. “Because Hoskins is not an American citizen, was not employed by the American subsidiary, and did not enter the United States while allegedly working on the scheme, he falls outside the category of persons directly covered by the FCPA,” the Second Circuit majority held. Morvillo previously landed “Litigator of the Week” honors in 2018 for winning an earlier appeal for Hoskins on FCPA issues of first impression at the Second Circuit. (Hoskins was released in April after serving 15 months in prison for money-laundering charges related to the project.) Morvillo and Silver were supported on the appeal by partner Celeste Koeleveld and associate Benjamin Peacock.
Runners-up honors also go to a team at Sullivan & Cromwell representing Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in a high-stakes RICO lawsuit brought by General Motors. The Sixth Circuit last week unanimously upheld the dismissal of GM’s claims that it was harmed by improper payments certain former FCA employees facilitated to former officials of the United Auto Workers. The appellate court held that GM hadn’t specified what market injuries it had suffered, let alone how to apportion those injuries to FCA’s unfair labor advantage or any other potential factors. “Thus, it is impossible to ‘trace a straight line’ from FCA’s conduct in violation of RICO to these injuries, precluding a finding of proximate cause,” the court held. Former Sullivan & Cromwell partner Steve Holley, who is now executive vice-president of Select Equity Group, argued the appeal for FCA. Partners Rick Pepperman and Matthew Porpora continue to represent FCA in a related action brought by GM in Michigan state court.
