Charles Lifland

May 29 was a good day for Lifland, the national appellate coordinating counsel for Merck. In that one day, he received news from New Jersey and Texas that he had won multimillion-dollar reversals for Merck in the Vioxx mass tort litigation that was ongoing in both states. The daily double was a highlight in a strong year in which Lifland achieved reversals amounting to $5 billion in compensatory and punitive damages. He persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court in June to reduce the award stemming from the Exxon Valdez oil spill by $2 billion for his client, ExxonMobil. He also acted as lead appellate counsel for ExxonMobil in 2007, in a case in the Alabama Supreme Court involving offshore natural gas royalties, winning reversal of $3.5 billion in punitive damages and a 20 percent cut in compensatory damages.