Strong Courtroom Performances By Partner Ryan Baker and Associate Emily Stierwalt led to Penile IP Trial Victory

In a “How They Won It” July 3, 2023 story, Law360 reported that Ryan Baker’s “strong direct examination of the defendant (Dr. Robert Cornell) that left him ‘red-faced’ and ‘sputtering’” was the turning point in a contentious IP trade secrets trial between Beverly Hills urologist Dr. James Elist and his Houston rival Dr. Cornell.

A Los Angeles federal jury on Friday, June 16, 2023, invalidated two patents as it found that Dr. Cornell stole trade secrets from Dr. Elist, the inventor of the first FDA-cleared cosmetic penile implant. Baker undermined Cornell’s credibility when he got Cornell to “admit to filling his website with false statements” and then told the jury Cornell contradicted a sworn declaration. Baker said, “When I pulled that declaration out it was just another assail on his credibility.”

Another key moment in the nine-day trial, according to Law360, was when Emily Stierwalt questioned Minerva Acosta, a surgical technician for Elist. At the conclusion of the trial, the jurors told to U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall that Ms. Stierwalt, “did a good job with a difficult witness.”

Said Baker, “I had to decide, was I going to roll the dice on Emily, my junior associate, being able to properly defend and take this important witness, and ultimately, I decided to do it … obviously it was the right call.”

The Waymaker trial team also featured vital contributions from Managing Partner Scott Malzahn, who cross examined the expert witnesses for the defense, Partner Donald Pepperman, who identified the reasonable royalty damages theory as a court issue, and Associate Sam Meehan, who was involved with every aspect of the case.