Litigators of the Week: The White & Case duo who beat back Cigna's bid for a US$1.85B breakup fee in ill-fated Anthem merger
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The American Lawyer's Litigation Daily named Glenn Kurtz and Claudine Columbres its Litigators of the Week for securing a US$1.85 billion victory in the Delaware Chancery and Supreme Courts. Glenn and Claudine represented Anthem, Inc., in a four-year, contentious litigation against its former merger partner, Cigna Corporation, over the failed merger between the two companies and the US$1.85 billion breakup fee. The appeal victory brought to a close one of the hardest fought broken deal disputes in history.
In an interview with Litigation Daily, Glenn Kurtz noted that the case "was remarkable because I am not aware of another case that involved such an elaborate campaign by a merger partner to avoid a deal. Cigna secretly employed advisors and paid them millions of dollars to help it escape a merger that it was contractually required to support with best efforts."
Claudine Columbres emphasized the collaborative effort of the entire White & Case team, including contributions by Daniel Dufner, Michael Deyong, Andrew Hammond, Gregory Starner, Heather Burke, Dana E. Foster, Christopher M. Curran, J. Mark Gidley, George L. Paul, Jesse Green, Camille Shepherd, Elizabeth Stainton, Alexander Sculthorpe, Vatsala Sahay, Taylor Allen and Nicholas Grace. She said the case "shows the significance of diversity, which is important to us as a Firm, and our execution before, during and after trial goes to show how diversity is more than a talking point—it generates better results. We were a team of lawyers that was diverse in many ways, which was unquestionably important to this victory. The diversity of the team fostered the creativity, innovative thinking and problem solving necessary for our success."
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