Notable Successes

Kerri-Ann Limbeek

Law360 has recognized Desmarais LLP partner Kerri-Ann Limbeek as a 2023 Rising Star for her role in the firm's $272.5 million jury trial win that included $100 million in additional enhanced damages – a total of $372.5 million – secured for Ravgen against LabCorp. 
 
Following a one-week trial in September 2022, a federal jury in Waco, Texas returned a full plaintiff's verdict for Ravgen, finding that LabCorp had willfully infringed its patent (No. 7,332,277) and awarding Ravgen’s entire royalty request of $100 per infringing unit for a total of $272.5 million in damages.
 
Limbeek's role included examining Ravgen’s technical expert for more than three hours at trial, where she highlighted the validity of Ravgen’s patent and how it was infringed. She also cross-examined LabCorp’s technical expert using deposition admissions obtained earlier in the case that showed the limitations of the expert’s credibility. Those admissions featured prominently in the trial’s closing arguments and in post-trial briefing. The jury’s verdict also led to a settlement in parallel litigation involving the same patent with Quest two weeks later.
 
Prior to trial, Limbeek defeated LabCorp's attempts to throw out Ravgen’s asserted claims and invalidate its patents, which ultimately paved the way for the jury verdict. During Markman proceedings, Limbeek successfully briefed and argued against validity challenges to Ravgen’s claims as well as Ravgen’s claim construction positions, which the court adopted. At the pretrial conference, Limbeek also argued against and defeated LabCorp’s motions for summary judgment of noninfringement and invalidity, and Limbeek briefed and won a motion for summary judgment of no invalidity based on anticipation. Those victories resulted in LabCorp dropping its remaining validity theories midway through trial.
 
The Law360 Rising Star class of 2023 included 183 honorees from across the legal industry. The awards recognize top-performing attorneys under 40 on the fast-track in their careers and highlights their significant achievements in the courtroom.

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Kerri-Ann Limbeek