Los Angeles Partners Calvin Davis and Aaron Rudin secured Ninth Circuit affirmance in a dispute in which they twice tried the underlying case to jury verdict in the Eastern District of California. Only six days after oral argument in Seattle, the Ninth Circuit unanimously rejected the plaintiff’s appeal. The firm’s client is a subsidiary of a multinational NYSE publicly traded consumer products company.
This case originated in a 2015 action in which the plaintiff was alleging wrongful termination of nine multi-state distribution contracts for which they were claiming $76 million in lost profits and as well as punitive damages. The team secured a defense verdict in the first trial of this matter in 2017.
In 2019, the Ninth Circuit reversed the verdict, based on its disagreement with a partial summary judgment order that had narrowed the scope of certain issues for trial. The case was remanded for re-trial.
At the second trial in 2021, the jury again returned a favorable verdict for the firm’s client. The plaintiff again appealed.
The significance of this appeal to the plaintiff after eight years of litigation was highlighted by the plaintiff’s firm bringing in the head of their Supreme Court and Appellate Practice from Washington, D.C. to argue the case. Nevertheless, the Ninth Circuit rejected every argument raised by the plaintiff and affirmed the jury verdict.
Mr. Davis and Mr. Rudin would like to thank Margaret Drugan, Rafer Weaver, and Marisela Tesillo for their assistance over the years with this matter.