Payne & Fears Secures Complete Defense Verdict for Skye Bioscience Following Ninth Circuit Remand

After a six-day jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, a jury returned a complete defense verdict in favor of Skye Bioscience, Inc. in a high-value whistleblower retaliation action brought by former V.P. of Operations, Wendy Cunning. The verdict comes after years of hard-fought litigation and marks a dramatic reversal of fortune for Skye in a case that had previously resulted in a multimillion-dollar judgment against the company.

The lawsuit arose from allegations that Ms. Cunning was terminated in retaliation for purported whistleblower complaints relating to company operations, securities disclosures, and other business matters. Skye maintained that the claims lacked merit and that Ms. Cunning’s position was eliminated as part of a restructuring undertaken to refocus the company on advancing its clinical development programs.

This is the second time this case has been tried. Following an earlier trial, plaintiff obtained a judgment exceeding $6 million inclusive of damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs. The Ninth Circuit reversed that judgment and remanded the matter for a new trial. Payne & Fears LLP was brought in to represent Skye in the retrial.
 
At retrial, Skye elicited testimony from company executives, board members, consultants, and industry professionals demonstrating that Skye’s decision was driven by business realities, not retaliation. After deliberating for approximately two hours on the morning of November 10, 2026, the jury returned a unanimous verdict in Skye’s favor on all claims.

The result reflects the efforts of a dedicated team that worked on the matter for over two years. The trial team was led by Daniel F. Fears, Erika M. Rasch, and Tyler B. Runge. Critical support was provided by attorneys Philip K. Lem, Bree A. Oswald, and Taylor B. Brown. The team also benefited from exceptional contributions from paralegals and staff, including Kathleen E. McFarland-Ramirez, Donna McNally, Lina C. Velasquez, and Chris Van Steenbergen.
 
Plaintiff was represented by Dan Kotchen, Daniel Low, Lindsey Grunert and Amanda Burns of Kotchen & Low