Great - glad I was able to help a bit and thanks a lot for sharing the solution in public forums. This sounds logical and I want to also send you a link that describes this patters (style inheritance) - since the grid is a complex control consisting of many elements, almost all styles are inherited from other styles. Please check out the following link (the Stlye ihneritance Hierarchy link) for additional details:

http://help.infragistics.com/Help/NetAdvantage/NET/2008.2/CLR2.0/html/WebGrid_About_WebGrid.html

Thanks again.

thanks very much for your efforts... if anything it in a round about way led be to try something else...

 Hello,

I am trying to reproduce the problem, unfortunately to no avial. Please, take a look at my code - both C# codebehind and ASPX setup, as well as a screenshot of what I am getting - the cell is correctly positioned to top (default is indeed middle). The only suggestion I am having at this point is that you are not executing the the CellStyle setting code from the InitializeLayout event of the grid:

    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        DataTable dt = new DataTable();
        dt.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("FirstName", typeof(string)));
        dt.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("LastName", typeof(string)));

        dt.Rows.Add(new string[ { "adsjfslkjfdslkjflkjfs lkjflkjfskjfdsfsafasfalkjsfs alkjlkjflkjsalk jfsflkjdsadslkjf saflkjdsafaf safjsajflksadjflks", "b" });
        dt.Rows.Add(new string[ { "a", "b" });
        dt.Rows.Add(new string[ { "a", "b" });

        UltraWebGrid1.DataSource = dt;
        UltraWebGrid1.DataBind();
    }


    protected void UltraWebGrid1_InitializeLayout(object sender, Infragistics.WebUI.UltraWebGrid.LayoutEventArgs e)
    {
        UltraWebGrid1.Columns.FromKey("LastName").CellStyle.VerticalAlign = VerticalAlign.Top;
    }
   
        <igtbl:UltraWebGrid ID="UltraWebGrid1" runat="server"
        oninitializelayout="UltraWebGrid1_InitializeLayout">       
        <DisplayLayout AllowColSizingDefault="Free" AllowColumnMovingDefault="OnServer" UseFixedHeaders="true"
            AllowDeleteDefault="Yes" AllowSortingDefault="OnClient"
            AllowUpdateDefault="Yes" BorderCollapseDefault="Separate"
            HeaderClickActionDefault="SortMulti" Name="UltraWebGrid1"
            RowHeightDefault="100%" RowSelectorsDefault="No"
            SelectTypeRowDefault="Extended" StationaryMargins="Header"
            StationaryMarginsOutlookGroupBy="True" TableLayout="Fixed" Version="4.00"
            ViewType="OutlookGroupBy">           
            <RowStyleDefault Wrap="true"></RowStyleDefault>
            <FrameStyle BackColor="Window" BorderColor="InactiveCaption"
                BorderStyle="Solid" BorderWidth="1px" Font-Names="Microsoft Sans Serif"
                Font-Size="8.25pt" Height="200px" Width="325px">
            </FrameStyle>
            <Pager MinimumPagesForDisplay="2">
                <PagerStyle BackColor="LightGray" BorderStyle="Solid" BorderWidth="1px">
                <BorderDetails ColorLeft="White" ColorTop="White" WidthLeft="1px"
                    WidthTop="1px" />
                </PagerStyle>
            </Pager>
            <EditCellStyleDefault BorderStyle="None" BorderWidth="0px">
            </EditCellStyleDefault>
            <FooterStyleDefault BackColor="LightGray" BorderStyle="Solid" BorderWidth="1px">
                <BorderDetails ColorLeft="White" ColorTop="White" WidthLeft="1px"
                    WidthTop="1px" />
            </FooterStyleDefault>
            <HeaderStyleDefault BackColor="LightGray" BorderStyle="Solid"
                HorizontalAlign="Left">
                <BorderDetails ColorLeft="White" ColorTop="White" WidthLeft="1px"
                    WidthTop="1px" />
            </HeaderStyleDefault>
            <RowStyleDefault BackColor="Window" BorderColor="Silver" BorderStyle="Solid"
                BorderWidth="1px" Font-Names="Microsoft Sans Serif" Font-Size="8.25pt">
                <Padding Left="3px" />
                <BorderDetails ColorLeft="Window" ColorTop="Window" />
            </RowStyleDefault>
            <GroupByRowStyleDefault BackColor="Control" BorderColor="Window">
            </GroupByRowStyleDefault>
            <GroupByBox>
                <BoxStyle BackColor="ActiveBorder" BorderColor="Window">
                </BoxStyle>
            </GroupByBox>
            <AddNewBox Hidden="False">
                <BoxStyle BackColor="Window" BorderColor="InactiveCaption" BorderStyle="Solid"
                    BorderWidth="1px">
                    <BorderDetails ColorLeft="White" ColorTop="White" WidthLeft="1px"
                        WidthTop="1px" />
                </BoxStyle>
            </AddNewBox>
            <ActivationObject BorderColor="" BorderWidth="">
            </ActivationObject>
            <FilterOptionsDefault>
                <FilterDropDownStyle BackColor="White" BorderColor="Silver" BorderStyle="Solid"
                    BorderWidth="1px" CustomRules="overflow:auto;"
                    Font-Names="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" Font-Size="11px" Height="300px"
                    Width="200px">
                    <Padding Left="2px" />
                </FilterDropDownStyle>
                <FilterHighlightRowStyle BackColor="#151C55" ForeColor="White">
                </FilterHighlightRowStyle>
                <FilterOperandDropDownStyle BackColor="White" BorderColor="Silver"
                    BorderStyle="Solid" BorderWidth="1px" CustomRules="overflow:auto;"
                    Font-Names="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" Font-Size="11px">
                    <Padding Left="2px" />
                </FilterOperandDropDownStyle>
            </FilterOptionsDefault>           
        </DisplayLayout>
    </igtbl:UltraWebGrid>