Trials

On July 13, 2023, a three judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in favor of Cravath clients Louis Dreyfus Company LLC (“LDC”) and Imperial Sugar Company (“Imperial Sugar”) and unanimously affirmed an earlier decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware denying U.S. Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) request for an injunction to block LDC’s sale of the assets and business of Imperial Sugar to U.S. Sugar.

On June 6, 2023, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Delaware Court of Chancery’s judgment in favor of Cravath client Elon Musk on all counts in a stockholder derivative suit related to Tesla, Inc.’s (“Tesla”) 2016 acquisition of SolarCity Corp. (“SolarCity”).

On September 23, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware denied the U.S. Department of Justice’s request for an injunction blocking Louis Dreyfus Company LLC’s (“LDC”) sale of the assets and business of its subsidiary Imperial Sugar Company (“Imperial Sugar”) to U.S. Sugar. The District of Delaware’s decision in favor of the Defendants followed a four day trial in April 2022 and post-trial briefing submitted in May 2022.

On September 1, 2022, Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) ruled in favor of Cravath client Illumina, rejecting the FTC’s challenge to Illumina’s $8 billion acquisition of GRAIL, which closed in August 2021.

On August 25, 2022, the Delaware Court of Chancery granted in full Cravath client The Williams Companies, Inc.’s (“Williams”) motion for interest, attorneys’ fees and expenses, totaling more than $185 million at the time the motion was taken under submission. The decision followed post‑trial discovery, briefing and oral argument between January and May 2022.

On September 8, 2023, Lawdragon announced the inclusion of 38 Cravath partners in its second edition list of the “500 Leading Litigators in America.” The list, assembled based on research and vetting by peers, recognizes the “array of talent in America’s great trial teams” who represent entities in cases spanning the areas of antitrust, finance, government investigations, intellectual property, M&A and securities, among many others.

On July 31, 2023, Cravath published the latest edition of its Quarterly Review, which examines the Q2 2023 M&A, activism and corporate governance landscape. The Review provides an overview of activity in those areas, highlights notable cases in the M&A space, shares trends in activism activity and notes key developments in corporate governance over the second quarter of 2023. This edition also examines the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice’s proposed changes to the merger guidelines and other antitrust enforcement and policy developments, alongside recent Delaware cases and pronouncements related to corporate governance matters.

On April 28, 2023, Cravath published the latest edition of its Quarterly Review, which examines the Q1 2023 M&A, activism and corporate governance landscape. The Review provides an overview of activity in those areas, highlights notable cases in the M&A space, shares trends in activism activity and notes key developments in corporate governance over the first quarter of 2023. This edition also examines other first‑quarter highlights, including the first Delaware judicial decision to hold that non‑director corporate officers owe stockholders a fiduciary duty of oversight, recent antitrust policy developments and enforcement actions, the continuing increase in global activist activity and recent pronouncements related to corporate governance matters.

On March 15, 2023, Benchmark Litigation honored Cravath at the publication’s eleventh annual U.S. Awards, which was held in New York City in celebration of “the country’s most distinguished litigators and their firms for their exemplary work over the past twelve months.” The Firm was awarded Benchmark Litigation’s “Antitrust Firm of the Year” award, which recognized Cravath’s representation of clients, including Epic Games, Louis Dreyfus Company and Qualcomm. Cravath partner Timothy G. Cameron accepted the award on behalf of the Firm.

On February 9, 2023, Cravath was featured by Law360 as a “Competition Practice Group of the Year,” receiving the distinction for the fifth time in six years. The profile recognized the Firm’s role in securing “major trial wins” for clients Louis Dreyfus Company in the denial of the DOJ’s request for an injunction to block its sale of Imperial Sugar Company, and Illumina in a groundbreaking victory rejecting the FTC’s challenge to its $8 billion acquisition of GRAIL, as well as obtaining a “crucial ruling” for Blue Cross Blue Shield (“BCBS”) on a summary judgment motion in long‑running antitrust litigation.