Rex Manning

U.S. Supreme Court

Rudisill v. McDonough (S. Ct.). Counsel for amicus the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States in support of Petitioner in veterans-benefits case involving interplay between the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill for veterans with separate and distinct periods of service. Court ruled 7-2 in Petition’s favor.

Mountain Valley Pipeline v. the Wilderness Society (S. Ct.). Counsel for amicus EQT Corporation in support of emergency application to vacate stay pending appeal of completion of natural-gas pipeline necessary to increase the reliability of natural-gas supplies and to facilitate the transition away from less-efficient energy sources. Vacatur secured.

U.S. Courts of Appeals

Wunstell v. BP Exploration & Production, Inc., (5th Cir.). Counsel to BP in toxic-tort appeal challenging grant of summary judgment and exclusion of plaintiff’s causation expert under Daubert (appeal pending).

Smith v. BP Exploration & Production, Inc., (5th Cir.). Counsel to BP in toxic-tort appeal challenging grant of summary judgment following plaintiff’s failure to designate causation experts (appeal pending).

Aearo Technologies v. United States Trustee (7th Cir.). Counsel to Aearo in appeal of bankruptcy court’s dismissal of Chapter 11 proceedings. Secured authorization to take direct appeal to the Seventh Circuit (appeal stayed). 

Yang v. Nobilis Health (5th Cir.). Counsel to former Nobilis executives accused of securities fraud. Argued appeal and secured 3-0 affirmance of the complaint’s dismissal for failure to plead scienter.*

Polyflow v. Specialty RTP (5th Cir.). Counsel to Polyflow in appeal of district court’s refusal to compel arbitration of claims against competitor for breach of a settlement agreement and related torts. Secured 3-0 reversal requiring arbitration of all claims.*

The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam v. Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (5th Cir.). Counsel to Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam in appeal involving allegations of trademark infringement. Led briefing effort and secured 3-0 affirmance of summary-judgment grant finding no secondary meaning of asserted, unregistered trademarks.*

Korean Claimants v. Claimants’ Advisory Committee (6th Cir.). Counsel to finance committee tasked with managing Dow Corning’s Chapter 11 settlement facility in appeal involving creditors’ attempt to secure double recovery on their claims. Argued appeal and secured 3-0 affirmance in finance committee’s favor.*

United States v. Ghazi Manni (6th Cir.). Counsel to defendant in criminal appeal. Identified error in Guidelines calculation that led to joint motion to remand case for re-sentencing and 18-month reduction in sentence.*

District, Bankruptcy and State Courts

Palanki v. 3M (N.D. Fla.). Trial counsel to 3M in bellwether trial in historic multidistrict litigation concerning the Combat Arms Earplug. Obtained complete defense verdict following two-week jury trial.

Petty Business Enterprises v. Chesapeake Exploration (S.D. Tex. Bankr.). Trial counsel to group of mineral interest owners in royalty dispute with large oil-and-gas operator and its non-operating working-interest owners. Secured ruling awarding millions in damages and making favorable lease interpretations following two-week bench trial; briefed and argued summary-judgment motion on severance-tax provision in lease, resulting in favorable ruling valued at $3 million.* 

Protopapas v. Whittaker, Clark & Daniels (D. N.J.). Counsel to WCD in appeal of bankruptcy court’s refusal to dismiss Chapter 11 proceedings based on state-court receiver’s claim of exclusive power to authorize bankruptcy filing (appeal pending). 

United States v. Voyager Digital Holdings (S.D.N.Y.). Counsel to Voyager in government’s appeal of Chapter 11 plan’s exculpation provision, which protected bankruptcy professionals from liability for taking court-ordered steps to implement plan by rebalancing Voyager’s cryptocurrency portfolio prior to sale and distribution of proceeds to creditors (appeal pending).

Cervecería Modelo de México v. CB Brand Strategies (S.D.N.Y.). Counsel to Constellation Brands in trademark and contract dispute involving whether Constellation’s Corona and Modelo hard seltzer products are “beer.” Offered appellate perspective on legal issues—including research behind, and drafting of, key jury instruction—during jury trial that resulted in complete defense verdict.

TI, Limited v. Chavez (S.D. Cal.). Counsel to defendant Alianza Marcas e Imagen in breach-of-contract and computer-crimes dispute involving travel-portal software. Led briefing effort that resulted in dismissal of claims against Alianza for lack of personal jurisdiction.*

HControl Holdings LLC et al. v. Antin Infrastructure Partners (Del. Ch.). Counsel to Antin in dispute over termination of merger agreement following seller’s refusal to satisfy closing conditions. Provided pre-trial assistance and strategy development that helped secure complete defense verdict following bench trial.

Lendlease Americas v. Thor Parent Holdings (Del. Ch.). Counsel to defendant Ranger Acquisition Sub in third party’s attempt to stop sale of cellular-tower portfolio, claiming consent right over the deal. Led briefing effort that secured denial of preliminary-injunction motion, after which plaintiff dismissed case.

Reynolds v. Quantlab Trading Partners (Tex. 152nd Dist. Ct.—Harris County). Counsel to Quantlab in fraud case seeking over $1 billion in damages. Led briefing efforts that resulted in summary judgment and six-figure sanctions award against plaintiff for pursing claims in bad faith.*

*Prior to joining Kirkland

Associate, Smyser Kaplan & Veselka

Associate, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Prior to clerking, Rex founded a partnership with the University of Michigan Law School's Federal Appellate Litigation Clinic in which attorneys took over appeals when the Clinic's caseload exceeded what students could handle. In the process, Rex briefed an en banc petition and a cert petition in separate federal criminal appeals.

Since joining Kirkland, Rex has developed an active pro bono practice that includes representing habeas petitioners in state and federal proceedings and authoring amicus briefs in key cases at the U.S. Supreme Court.