David L. Yohai is a Litigation partner in Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ Litigation Department. Mr. Yohai has litigated a variety of complex commercial, antitrust and intellectual property matters for clients in the consumer electronics, insurance, reinsurance, transportation, nuclear power equipment supply, cosmetics and entertainment industries. He has also worked on a number of successful appeals, including cases before the US Courts of Appeals for the Second and Third Circuits, the New York Court of Appeals, and the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Over the past several years, Mr. Yohai has represented and counseled Panasonic, ExxonMobil, Disney, and Reuters in a variety of litigations and arbitrations. In 2008, Mr. Yohai defeated a national class in a case brought against ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Citgo and Marathon wherein Plaintiffs were seeking billions of dollars in damages. Mr. Yohai also recently defeated a preliminary injunction motion brought against Disney and obtained summary judgment for Panasonic North America in a significant technology matter brought in federal court in New Orleans. In 2003-04, he successfully defended Matsushita Electric in a major antitrust litigation involving allegations concerning the DVD 6C patent pool, obtaining summary judgment for Matsushita on all of the antitrust claims asserted. In the summer of 2000, Mr. Yohai litigated a three-month jury trial for Matsushita in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana resulting in total victory for Matsushita and a zero verdict in a case where Plaintiffs demanded over $750 million in damages and discovery had proceeded for almost three years.
Mr. Yohai has also represented numerous insurance clients, including United Healthcare, Penn Treaty American Corporation, Conseco Senior Health Insurance Company, Conseco Life Insurance Company, The Travelers Insurance Company, Farmers Insurance Exchange and other significant insurance and reinsurance clients, in a variety of matters. He has also participated in several large reinsurance arbitrations in which he achieved favorable decisions. In 2005, he favorably settled a nationwide class action for Penn Treaty involving alleged wrongdoing with respect to over 200,000 policyholders. In 2001, Mr. Yohai settled another nationwide class action for Conseco Senior Health on favorable terms in a case involving over 750,000 policyholders.
In 2005, Mr. Yohai successfully defended the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (“MTA”) in a challenge brought by Madison Square Garden over the rights to build the New York Sports and Convention Center on the West Side of Manhattan. In 2004, Mr. Yohai was lead counsel for M-Systems, Inc, an Israeli electronics manufacturer, in a multi-million dollar fraud and trade secrets matter brought against M-Systems, obtaining a complete dismissal of all claims brought against M-Systems, Inc.
Mr. Yohai has in the past litigated matters on behalf of Westinghouse Electric Corporation in connection with its supplying nuclear power steam generators to several utilities throughout the nation and has represented Paco Rabanne Parfums, Warner/Chappell Music, Sony Music, Arista Records and others in trademark and copyright infringement matters.
Mr. Yohai was selected by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in 2007. Mr. Yohai has also been a PLI lecturer and has lectured on topics including federal civil procedure, e-discovery, and the attorney-client privilege. He previously clerked for the Honorable Robert E. Cowen on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit where he worked on a variety of civil and criminal appeals.
Mr. Yohai graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Princeton University with a B.A. where he majored in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif and was a note and comment editor of the New York University Law Review.
Mr. Yohai is also a member of the litigation sections of the American and New York State Bar Associations.