Cisco Systems Inc. has gotten a reprieve on a $63 million verdict in a trial that came about because one of its lawyers made allegedly anti-Semitic remarks in an earlier trial. On Tuesday a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated the latest verdict in the case, a patent infringement suit brought against Cisco by Commil USA LLC, a small patent-holding company. Finding that the judge had given erroneous instructions to the jury in the second trial, the panel ordered a new, third trial on Commil's claims.
William Lee of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr represented Cisco before the Federal Circuit. It's the latest win for Lee, whom Recorder sibling publication The Litigation Daily named as Litigator of the Week earlier this month for helping Pfizer Inc. secure a $2.15 billion settlement from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Mark Werbner of Dallas-based Sayles Werbner, which has been lead counsel to Commil throughout the case, said his client plans to seek an en banc review of the ruling.
