Our first runner-up spot goes to David deRubertis of The deRubertis Law Firm and Taylor Prainito and Michael Zelman of Southern California Labor Law Group. A state court jury in Los Angeles this week awarded $41.49 million to their client, neonatal nurse Maria Gatchalian, after finding that she was terminated in retaliation after she raised concerns about understaffing leading to issues with patient safety and quality of care. Jurors awarded Gatchalian $2.49 million in economic damages for lost wages and benefits, $9 million for emotional distress, and $15 million in punitive damages against both defendants, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc.
Dale Cendali, Joshua Simmons and their team at Kirkland & Ellis got a summary judgment win for client Astronics Test Systems knocking out a copyright infringement claim from Teradyne—the sole remaining claim in an intellectual property dispute between the two defense contractors. U.S. District Judge George Wu in Los Angeles last week found that Astronics’ use of Teradyne’s copyrighted declaring code in its automated testing equipment constituted fair use. The Kirkland team also included partners Yvonne Beeler, Yimeng Dou, Yan-Xin Li and Miranda Means, along with associates Julien Jean-George Crockett, Nick Teleky and Josh Berlowitz.
