Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout-Outs

Carrie Karis, Rob Ellis, Lauren Casazza, Patrick Castle, Lauren Biksacky, Zac Ciullo, Aaron Stevenson, Jon Emmanuel, Michael Smith and Alanna Carden were recognized as runners-up for The American Lawyer Litigation Daily's "Litigator of the Week" for their work for GATX.

"First up this week is a team from Kirkland & Ellis who represented railcar owner GATX Corp. in litigation where the Norfolk Southern railway was seeking to get the company to pay a portion of its $600 million settlement with residents affected by the February 2023 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Norfolk Southern claimed GATX had allowed the car in question to sit in a railyard in the floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey, causing a defect in its wheel bearing that led to the derailment. But, after a four-week trial, federal jurors in Youngstown found last week that Norfolk Southern hadn’t proven that GATX was negligent and that the railway was 100% responsible for the cost of the settlement. The Kirkland team included Carrie Karis, Rob Ellis, Lauren Casazza, Patrick Castle, Lauren Biksacky, Zac Ciullo, Aaron Stevenson, Jon Emmanuel, Michael Smith and Alanna Carden."