Walmart’s $101 Million Loss Is Win for Firm, Funder in Suit (1)

A Manhattan litigation boutique and its outside funder recently scored a $101 million jury verdict against Walmart Inc. on the company’s home turf.

An Arkansas jury last week sided with London Luxury, a textile vendor that accused Walmart of backing out of a contract to buy more than $500 million in Covid-era personal protective equipment.

Lawyers at Holwell Shuster & Goldberg represented the company in the lawsuit, joining the case after London Luxury parted ways with two larger firms. It got a cash boost from Bench Walk Advisors, a litigation funder that inked a deal with the firm in February to invest more than $5.1 million in the Walmart case and other suits.

“We found it to be a very, very credible case being put forward by very strong lawyers,” Stuart Grant, Bench Walk’s co-founder and managing director, said in an interview.

Walmart is “weighing our post-trial options,” including a possible appeal, a spokesperson said via email. The company was represented by Jones Day and at least two other law firms.

“We disagree with the jury’s decision and don’t believe the verdict is supported by the evidence,” the spokesperson said. “We are committed to doing business fairly and expect our suppliers to live up to the highest ethical standards.”

HSG declined to comment. Grant declined to say the amount they would receive from the verdict.

Risk Play

London Luxury originally filed the suit in Westchester, New York, in early 2022. Walmart later had it removed to federal court in Fayetteville, Arkansas, just south of the retail giant’s headquarters.

The verdict followed a 10-day jury trial.

“Anytime you go in front of a jury, there’s a certain amount of risk,” Grant said. “Even though this was in Walmart’s own backyard, I think the good folks on the jury understood that London Luxury was just treated wrong.”

Holwell Shuster & Goldberg was launched in 2012 by Richard Holwell, a former federal judge, and ex-White & Case litigators Michael Shuster, Daniel Goldberg, and Dorit Ungar Black. Its lawyers have defended Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. and Visa Inc., among other clients.

HSG partners Brendon DeMay and Priyanka Timblo acted as co-lead counsel for London Luxury. They took over after the company parted ways with Debevoise & Plimpton and later Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.

The firm, like other prominent litigation shops, takes at least some cases on contingency and alternative fee arrangements. That “allows clients to anticipate and contain the cost of litigation in a more predictable way,” HSG says on its website.

It also turns to outside funders to help cover costs, an increasingly popular option for plaintiff-side trial lawyers.

Litigation finance is a $15.2 billion industry in which investors pool money into lawsuits and receive a portion of any awards or settlements. The arrangements are often shielded from the public. The terms vary and can include funders footing the bill for a single case or a portfolio of lawsuits.

Bench Walk’s investment went toward everything necessary for Holwell to get through trial, according to Grant. He said funding at this stage in the litigation—weeks before trial—comes with a different set of risks.

“It became a less risky investment for us in that we knew when the trial was, so the durational risk seemed to be reduced,” he said. “On the other hand, the opportunity to settle sort of dissipates as you get closer and closer to trial. And in that regard there was more risk because it ultimately became a binary issue. We’re either gonna win or we’re gonna lose.”

The case is London Luxury LLC v. Walmart Inc., W.D. Ark., No. 5:22-cv-05059 4/4/2022.