Kristin M. Cobb

Ms. Cobb’s representations include:

• CME Group, Inc. and The Board of Trade of the City of Chicago Inc. in securing a unanimous defense verdict in a multibillion-dollar class action jury trial in Cook County, Illinois. The plaintiffs were approximately 4,000 former floor traders who claimed that CME and the Chicago Board of Trade had inappropriately cut them out of the profits from the shift toward electronic trading. The plaintiffs sued for over $2 billion in damages soon after CME opened a data center for electronic trading in the Chicago suburb of Aurora, Illinois, that they contended acted as the exchange’s new trading floor. After more than 10 years of litigation and a three-week jury trial, the jury deliberated for approximately four hours before returning a complete verdict for the defense
• DePuy Orthopaedics and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in a two-week jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, in which the plaintiffs brought claims for an allegedly defective metal-on-metal hip implant. The court dismissed J&J on Skadden’s Rule 50 motion and the jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning a unanimous verdict for DePuy
• Monsanto in a nine-week jury trial in Seattle, Washington, featuring dozens of expert witnesses and 22 plaintiffs asserting individualized claims. The plaintiffs alleged that they developed a wide variety of physical and cognitive ailments after allegedly being exposed to Monsanto’s PCBs. After several days of jury deliberations, Monsanto and the plaintiffs reached a mutually agreeable settlement
• Monsanto in a jury trial in Sonoma County, California, that was anticipated to be a lengthy trial in which the plaintiffs alleged that Monsanto’s product Roundup had caused cancer. After opening statements and testimony from two witnesses, the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their case with prejudice

Prior to joining Skadden, Ms. Cobb represented:

• Monsanto Company in securing a unanimous defense verdict (reached after three hours of deliberations) following a five-week jury trial in Cook County, Illinois, against claims brought by four plaintiffs who alleged that they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after being exposed to Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer and fire-retardant additives known as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) made by the company
• a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer at trial in nationwide litigation relating to opioid products
• a multinational e-commerce company at trial regarding issues related to tax liability
• a multinational aerospace and defense company in a litigation alleging claims for breach of contract and tortious interference
• a U.S. retail corporation regarding insurance coverage for a settlement related to alleged claims for trademark infringement
• a university regarding insurance coverage for a settlement related to alleged antitrust violations
• a residential real estate brokerage in a litigation alleging breach of contract and misappropriation of proprietary information
• an educational company in a litigation alleging claims for misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract and patent infringement relating to an educational platform
• a multinational dental implant manufacturer in a bankruptcy court litigation alleging, among other issues, trade secret misappropriation and breach of fiduciary duties
• a foreign high-tech company in a litigation regarding trade secret misappropriation
• several health care companies in federal and state False Claims Act litigation concerning sales and marketing practices