Appellate
Wiggin and Danaโs Appellate Practice Group, a dedicated appellate boutique within the larger firm, is one of the most successful in the nation. The group has gone head-to-head with some of the largest and most respected appellate practices in the nation and come away the winner. Our lawyers share many of the same credentials and backgrounds as lawyers at elite national firmsโdegrees from top law schools, appellate clerkships, government experienceโbut have chosen to base their national practice out of a smaller market in New Haven, Connecticut, allowing them to provide the same or better services for a fraction of their competitorsโ cost.
We maintain a nationwide practice, having handled recent appeals in the U.S. Supreme Court, all thirteen federal circuit courts, and state appellate courts including California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Vermont. Given the breadth of our experience and the depth of our talent, the group has been recognized as a โgold standard appeals practiceโ by Benchmark Litigation and has has been recognized by The Legal 500 in seven of the last eight years as one of the nationโs top practices in both the โAppellate: Courts of Appealsโ and โAppellate: Supreme Courtsโ categories, putting it in the same company as some of the most respected appellate firms in the world.
The group represents clients in a wide range of issues, such as transnational issues including foreign sovereign immunity, political and electoral issues including redistricting challenges, commercial disputes, education issues, patent and other intellectual property disputes, and a broad array of tort and statutory cases. We have secured reversals for clients in major appeals in the U.S. Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, the Connecticut Supreme Court, the Georgia Supreme Court, and elsewhere. We regularly defend lower court victories, including through the use of alternative grounds for affirmance. Most of our groupโs work comes to us from clients who have used other firms in the trial court, and we are also brought in to assist other firms on appellate issue spotting and preservation when a matter is in a trial court.
Our appellate lawyers are prominent in their field. Jonathan Freiman, a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers who chairs the Appellate Practice Group, has a โBand Oneโ ranking from Chambers USA where he has been described as โa โfiercely brightโ appellate lawyer who handles high-end problems for clients.โ One firm client quoted in Chambers described Jonathan as โprobably the best appellate advocate I have ever seen.โ
Along with Jonathan, Jeffrey Babbin and Aaron Bayer are Fellows of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, one of the largest number of Academy Fellows of any firm in the United States. Jeff has also served as co-chair of the Connecticut Bar Associationโs Appellate Advocacy Section, where he oversaw a significant expansion of the Sectionโs membership and activities and was appointed by Connecticutโs Chief Justice to serve on Connecticutโs Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules. Partner Aaron Bayer has argued high-profile appeals in state and federal appeals courts around the country and was a long-time columnist on appellate issues for the National Law Journal. James Glasser, immediate past Chair of Wiggin and Danaโs Litigation Department, has argued more than 50 appeals in the Second Circuit, both in private practice and as the former Chief of Appeals at the United States Attorneyโs Office for the District of Connecticut. Partner Kim Rinehart has won appeals on cutting-edge class-action issues and has developed a reputation for handling Telephone Consumer Protection Act and other consumer-protection appeals. Partners Tadhg Dooley and David Roth run the Yale Law School Appellate Litigation Clinic and collaborate to produce Wiggin and Danaโs widely read Supreme Court Update. The group includes associates and counsel with nationwide appellate experience, who have clerked on federal appellate courts and state high courts.
Given the backgrounds and reputations of the members of Wiggin and Danaโs Appellate Practice Group, it is not surprising that despite our small size, four of our alumni have become federal judges in less than twenty years.
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Recent representative matters:
- Successfully represented the Federal Republic of Germany and a major German public institution before the U.S. Supreme Court in Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp (No. 19-351), where the Court unanimously adopted our interpretation of a provision of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and followed that victory with a victory in the D.C. Circuit on a related issue.
- Successfully represented two major insurance companies in dozens of appeals involving coverage for COVID-19 related losses under commercial property insurance policies, including cases before the Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuit; the Connecticut Supreme Court; and intermediate state courts in California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Michigan.
- Represented a medical device manufacturer in the California Supreme Court in a case involving a novel question under the โlearned intermediary doctrine,โ which states that the duty to warn of manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and prescription medical devices runs from the manufacturer to the health care provider, rather than to the ultimate user of the prescription product. Convinced the Court to reject the plaintiffโs argument that the learned intermediary doctrine does not require a plaintiff to prove that a different warning would have led the health care provider to change his conduct.
- Represented members of the Connecticut Reapportionment Commission in litigation before a Special Master and the Connecticut Supreme Court, with the Connecticut Supreme Court ultimately upholding the Commissionโs redistricting map in In re Reapportion Commโn, 341 Conn. 271, 268 A.3d 1185 (2022).
- Represented an aerospace manufacturer in a patent appeal in the Federal Circuit, earning a victory for our client in invalidating a major aerospace patent held by one of the worldโs largest aerospace companies.
- Represented a component manufacturer in a Lanham Act appeal in the Federal Circuit against a manufacturer who had used counterfeits of the components, in a case where our client ultimately prevailed in the Supreme Court, which established new standards for Lanham Act damage awards.
- Obtained a significant victory for a health care provider in the Georgia Supreme Court, reversing the intermediate court of appeals and vacating a multi-million dollar verdict entered by the trial court in a case examining the foreseeability element of negligence claims when entities are alleged to be responsible for their employeesโ sexual assaults, as well as a negligence per se issue in the medical context.
- Successfully represented a manufacturer in an appeal in the New York Appellate Division, securing reversal of the trial courtโs denial of our clientโs motion for summary judgment on product liability claims.
- Convinced the California Supreme Court to recognize a new equitable principle in an area of that stateโs insurance law, reversing the intermediate court of appeals and the trial court and allowing our client to pursue a claim directly against an insuredโs independent counsel for reimbursement of millions of dollars in excessive fees.
- In a putative class action against a property-insurance company in North Carolina state court, we obtained dismissal of all claims against our client and then persuaded the North Carolina Supreme Court to unanimously affirm.
- Prevailed in an appeal before the Connecticut Supreme Court on behalf of a Connecticut university, securing reversal of a trial courtโs judgment and injunction against the university regarding its management of student housing.
- Convinced the Second Circuit that the district court lacked jurisdiction over claims brought against the former President of Mexico related to his alleged responsibility for events occurring during that nationโs Zapatista uprising.
- In an unfair trade practices case, we persuaded the Connecticut Supreme Court to reverse what was then both the largest commercial judgment and the largest class-action judgment in that stateโs history, a verdict against an insurer regarding its contracting practices with auto repair providers.
- In a case for a museum, we persuaded the Second Circuit to reject claims seeking restitution of one of the most valuable artworks in the world, a Van Gogh masterpiece expropriated by Russia during the early Communist era.
- Prevailed in both the First Circuit and Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, convincing the latter to adopt, for the first time, the doctrine of equitable contribution and saving our client millions of dollars.
- Convinced the Second Circuit to vacate a sentence entered against our client under the Espionage Act as procedurally unreasonable.
- Persuaded the Eleventh Circuit to reinstate a $10 million recoupment claim brought by a legal malpractice insurer.
- Convinced the Connecticut Supreme Court to overturn an $11 million jury verdict against a town on the basis of governmental immunity.