Tulsi E. Gaonkar

Tulsi Gaonkar is a dynamic trial lawyer who has successfully represented clients in a wide range of complex civil litigation matters, serving as trial counsel in arbitrations and in federal and state courts across the country. As a result, Tulsi is well-versed in many areas of law and has litigated a range of high-stakes disputes, including antitrust, product liability, trade secrets, patent infringement, employment law, class actions and other complex commercial matters. She recently served as trial counsel for Trinity Industries Leasing Company in a commercial dispute in Texas, where she led the preparation and examination of Trinity’s damages witness and won a motion for directed verdict. Tulsi’s practice requires not only advocacy in the courtroom but also negotiation expertise. She understands the importance of providing clients with practical and strategic advice. Her exposure to varied industries and a broad range of corporate dynamics helps her serve as counsel, strategist, and sounding board to her clients.

Cases Tried or Otherwise Taken to Judgment

Trinity Industries Leasing Company v. Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals (Dallas County, Texas)
Trial counsel for Trinity in a breach-of-contract case relating to the lease of 280 railcars to Sunoco. After a four-day jury trial in Dallas County Court, the judge granted a motion for directed verdict in Trinity’s favor, ruling that Sunoco had breached the contract by failing to pay for government-mandated modifications to the railcars.

Gillette Company v. ShaveLogic, Inc., et al. (Business Litigation Session, Mass. Superior Court)
Trial counsel for ShaveLogic and individually-named defendants, who were accused of misappropriating trade secrets and confidential information from Gillette. ShaveLogic filed counterclaims for tortious interference, asserting that Gillette brought its claims not to protect any proprietary interests, but to interfere with ShaveLogic's business relationships. Court granted ShaveLogic's motion for summary judgment, dismissing all of Gillette's claims with prejudice, and denied Gillette's motion for summary judgment on ShaveLogic's counterclaims.

Read the WSJ article here.

Read the Law360 article here.

FortuNet Inc. v. Gaming Arts LLC (Clark County, NV)
Second chair trial counsel for Gaming Arts in breach of contract and unfair competition lawsuit related to sales representative agreement and supply contract. Six-day bench trial held in February 2018. Second phase of trial led to jury verdict against Gaming Arts. The court reversed the jury's verdict on Gaming Arts' claim for breach of the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing manifest disregard of the court's instructions. Case settled.

Spirit AeroSystems v. Gulfstream (AAA/ICDR Arbitration, New York, NY)
Represented Spirit AeroSystems against Gulfstream. Both parties alleged hundreds of millions of dollars of breach of contract damages. After a three-week arbitration hearing that included opening statements and testimony from dozens of witnesses, the case settled on favorable terms before the panel issued a ruling.

Other Representative Cases

East Palestine Train Derailment Litigation
Trial and coordinating counsel to Trinity Industries Leasing Company in class action and CERCLA litigation arising from the East Palestine, Ohio, Train Derailment of February 2, 2023, pending in federal courts in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Obtained a complete dismissal with prejudice of all class action claims and claims by Norfolk Southern after the close of fact discovery, the only party to be so dismissed.

Carling O’Brien v. Emerald Lake Capital Management, et al. (Los Angeles County, Cal.)
Successfully defended Emerald Lake and affiliates in a case involving breach of contract and other claims brought by an investment professional whom the firm had terminated. Won a motion to compel arbitration of plaintiff’s claims, during which the case was settled successfully following a seven-day evidentiary hearing.

Ashton Woods L.L.C. v. USG Corp., et al. (N.D. Cal.)
Defending the leading U.S. drywall manufacturer against Sherman Act and state-law price fixing claims brought by twelve of the nation's largest homebuilders. Secured summary judgment on liability in favor of clients United States Gypsum Company and USG Corp. This decision came after the court denied summary judgment to multiple co-Defendants. The case against a distributor subsidiary, L&W Supply, settled shortly before trial.

Sprint v. Cequel et al. (D. Del.) 
Trial counsel for defendant Cequel (Altice) in patent lawsuit brought by Sprint alleging that Cequel’s voice-over-IP networks infringe a number of Sprint’s patents. Case settled shortly before trial.

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Cases
Lead national counsel for DuPont on claims that its 2015 spin-off of The Chemours Company was a fraudulent transfer. Handling those claims in the aqueous film-forming foam multidistrict litigation in the District of South Carolina as well as cases in California, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont.

ViiV Healthcare Co. et al. v. Gilead Sciences (D. Del.)
Counsel for Gilead in patent infringement case related to Gilead's Biktarvy® HIV treatment. Case settled shortly before trial.

ET Plus Litigation
National counsel for defendants, Trinity Industries and Trinity Highway Products, in litigation alleging personal injuries from Trinity's ET Plus guardrail end terminal system.

Professional Activities and Community Service

Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, Fellow (2023)

Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law – Board Member 

LCLD Success in Law School Mentoring Program, Mentor 

Evanston Scholars, Mentor