Settled Cases
Our Attorneys’ Notable Cases and Former Representation of Institutional Investors, Taft-Hartley Pension and Benefit Funds and Individuals
Securities Fraud Class Actions and Corporate Governance Actions
- In re Bank of New York Mellon Corp. Forex Transactions Litigation: Representation of a Taft-Hartley pension fund, as lead plaintiff and proposed class representative, on behalf of all Taft-Hartley and employee benefit plans covered by ERISA, other non-public institutional investors, including private pension funds, mutual funds, endowment funds, and investment manager funds in a class action against The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation and its predecessors and subsidiaries, alleging that defendants charged class members fictitious foreign currency exchange (“FX”) rates in connection with the purchase and sale of foreign securities. Following four-years of intense litigation, which included over 19 million pages of document discovery, over 100 depositions, counterclaims against the named plaintiffs and their trustees, counsel for co-lead plaintiffs secured a court-approved settlement that returned, in aggregate, $504 million to BNY Mellon’s custodial banking customers. At the final settlement hearing in BNY Mellon (Sept. 24, 2015), Judge Kaplan noted:This really was an extraordinary case in which plaintiffs’ counsel performed, at no small risk, an extraordinary service, …. They did a wonderful job in this case, and I’ve seen a lot of wonderful lawyers over the years. This was a great performance.
- In re Facebook, Inc. IPO Securities and Derivative Litigation: Representation of three individual investors as certified class representatives on behalf of the Retail Investor Subclass in a securities class action against Facebook, Inc., several of its officer and directors and the lead underwriter arising from material misrepresentations made to investors in connection with Facebook’s Initial Public Offering. After over five-years hard-fought litigation, this matter was successfully settled for $35 million.
- Darden Restaurants, Inc. Derivative Litigation: Representation of a Taft-Hartley benefits fund, as lead plaintiff and proposed class representative, in a derivative action against Darden Restaurants Inc.’s Board of Directors alleging a breach of fiduciary duty in connection with their approval of the Bylaw Amendments and the Dead Head Proxy Put and corporate waste in connection with their approval of the Red Lobster Transaction. This matter was successfully litigated and resulted in a settlement in which the Board of Directors agreed to restore and enhance core franchise rights of Darden shareholders by repealing certain Bylaw Amendments, enhancing voting rights and terminating a “poison pill.”
- In re Globe Specialty Metals Inc. Stockholder Litigation: Representation of a Taft-Hartley pension fund, as lead plaintiff in a direct shareholder action against Globe Specialty Metals’ Board of Directors and certain other defendants alleging a breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the Board’s approval of the sale of Globe Specialty Metals to Grupo FerroAtlantica, S.A.U. This matter was successfully litigated and resulted in a $32.5 million settlement, as well as post-transaction protections for Globe’s former shareholders, including amendments to the acquiring company’s Articles of Association.
- In re Impax Laboratories, Inc. Shareholder Derivative Litigation: Representation of a Taft-Hartley benefits fund, as lead plaintiff and proposed class representative, in a derivative action against Impax Laboratories Inc.’s Board of Directors alleging a breach of fiduciary duty by willfully ignoring problems in the manufacturing and quality control processes at Impax’s primary manufacturing facility, causing it common stock price to drop from $28 per share to $24 per share. Following the aggressive litigation of this matter, the Company corrected its FDA regulatory violations, and the common stock price rebounded to $52 per share within one year.
- DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. Shareholder Litigation: Representing a Taft-Hartley benefits fund as lead plaintiff and proposed class representative in a derivative action against current and former directors of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. for breaches of fiduciary duty and corporate malfeasance in violation of Delaware law.
- In re Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. Shareholder Derivative Litigation: Representation a Taft-Hartley benefits fund and the interests of the derivative class as Additional Plaintiff’s Counsel, in a derivative action against Nu Skin Enterprises Inc.’s Board of Directors alleging a breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the company’s violations of Chinese regulation against multi-level “pyramid” marketing that resulted in regulatory investigations, fines and drastic reduction in Nu Skin’s China sales revenue.
- Representation of a Taft-Hartley pension fund in securities fraud class action against Nicor, Inc. arising from material misrepresentations concerning Nicor’s accounting for natural gas reserves which resulted in a multi-year restatement. This matter was successfully litigated and resulted in a $39 million settlement.
- Representation of a Taft-Hartley pension fund in securities fraud class action against Westar Energy, Inc. arising from material misrepresentations about Westar’s acquisition of non-regulated businesses. This matter was successfully litigated and resulted in a $30 million settlement.
- Representation of a Taft-Hartley pension fund in securities fraud class action against SPX Corporation arising from material misrepresentations about SPX’s business segments, free cash flow, and $45 million of alleged insider sales in the weeks leading up to SPX’s negative disclosure. This matter was successfully litigated and resulted in a $10 million settlement.
- Representation of a Taft-Hartley pension fund in a securities fraud class action against Leap Wireless Inc. arising from material misrepresentations about Leap Wireless’s financial condition and internal controls that resulted in a massive twelve quarter financial restatement. This matter was successfully litigated and resulted in a $13.75 million settlement and the implementation of various operational and corporate governance measures.
- Representation of numerous Taft-Hartley pension funds in securities class actions arising from material misstatements in Registration Statements and Prospectuses issued in connection with their purchase of Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) collateralized with “toxic loans,” including sub-prime, Alt-A and other fraudulently originated mortgages.
- Representation of shareholders of Bank of America Corporation in a derivative action against the company’s Board of Directors alleging breaches of fiduciary duties in connection with the merger of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
- Representation of shareholders of Huron Consulting Group in a derivative action against the company’s Board of Directors alleging a breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the accounting firm’s restatement of $63 million of revenue over a period of 12 fiscal quarters.
- Representation of bank customers whose certificates of deposit were automatically renewed upon maturity at rates much lower than the bank was currently offering to new customers despite being assured that their CD would be invested at the current rate.
Antitrust, Consumer, Environmental and Product Liability Class Actions
- Wurtz v. The Rawlings Company, LLC: Successful representation of a putative class of New York personal injury, podiatric and medical malpractice plaintiffs against Oxford Health Plans and its subrogation recovery agent, The Rawlings Company, seeking a declaration under NY G.O.L § 5-335 (“Anti-subrogation law”) that Oxford/Rawlings does not have the right to seek subrogation of medical benefits against their settlements. Read more.
- In re Lidoderm Antitrust Litigation: Representation of a Taft-Hartley welfare fund as a named plaintiff and certified class representative in an antitrust class action lawsuit against the brand and generic manufacturers of Lidoderm arising from defendants’ anticompetitive scheme to delay the entry of generic versions of Lidoderm into the market. This matter was settled for approximately $104.75 million.
- In re Aggrenox Antitrust Litigation: Representation of a Taft-Hartley welfare fund as a named plaintiff in an antitrust class action lawsuit against the brand and generic manufacturers of Aggrenox arising from defendants’ anticompetitive scheme to delay the entry of generic versions of Aggrenox into the market. This matter was settled for $54 million.
- In re Solodyn Antitrust Litigation: Representation of a Taft-Hartley welfare fund as a named plaintiff and certified class representative in an antitrust class action lawsuit against the brand and generic manufacturers of Solodyn arising from defendants’ anticompetitive scheme to delay the entry of generic versions of Solodyn into the market. This matter was settled for approximately $44 million.
- In re Nexium (Esomeprazole) Antitrust Litigation: Representation of two Taft-Hartley welfare funds, as named plaintiffs and certified class representatives, in an antitrust class action lawsuit against Astrazececa LP. arising from defendant’s anticompetitive scheme to delay the entry of generic versions of Nexium into the market. This matter was extensively litigated through a jury verdict; the End-Payor Plaintiffs obtained a $25 million settlement from generic manufacturer Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.
- Torcyzner v. Staples, Inc.: Successfully obtained substantial benefits for class of approximately 3.2 million members of Staples’ Rewards Program who should have earned more Rewards when they made certain types of purchase transactions. The settlement had an estimated value of more than $2 million.
- Dewey, et al. v. Volkswagen AG: Representation of purchasers of Volkswagen and Audi vehicles equipped with defective plenum drains, pollen filter seals and sunroof drains permitting water ingress which compromised the vehicles’ brake booster, transmission control module, other electrical components and the vehicles interior. This action was successfully litigated.
- Representation of a class of silver bullion purchasers and holders that were being overcharged for the storage of unallocated silver bullion. This matter was successfully litigated and resulted in a 100% recovery of storage charges.
Employment: Discrimination and Wage & Hour Litigation
- Successfully lead a six-day jury trial in the Eastern District of New York on the novel issue of gender stereotyping and sexual orientation discrimination that resulted in a plaintiff’s verdict on the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”) claims.
- Successfully represented a conditionally certified collective class of licensed social workers employed at a major New York City-based hospital who were forced to work off-the-clock in violation of the FSLA and NYLL. This matter was settled for $1.5 million.
- Successfully represented thirteen entertainers in an action filed in federal court to recover unpaid wages and overtime alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). This matter was settled for $1 million.
- Successfully presented a female employee who was sexually harassed and assaulted in the workplace, obtaining a combined $350,000 settlement against her employers under a joint employer theory of liability.
- Successfully represented a conditionally certified collective class of maintenance and service workers employed at all New York locations of a national cooperative residential housing company that improperly labeled workers time as “non-productive hours” and wrongfully denied overtime compensation in violation of the FSLA and NYLL. This matter was settled for approximately $300,000.
- Successfully represented a group of employees employed at an international television news network arising from the company and its owners’ willful refusal to pay wages for multiple pay cycles and willfully failing to pay wages in a timely manner. This matter was settled for $300,000.
- Successfully represented an American single mother in a national-origin and pregnancy discrimination action alleging violations of Title VII, NYCHRL and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act against a Japanese financial services company operating in New York. This matter was successfully resolved for $196,000.
- Successfully represented a sixty-three-year-old engineer in an age discrimination lawsuit alleging violations of Title VII, New York State Human Rights Law (“NYSHRL”) and NYCHRL against a dominant private New York City-based health services company. This matter was settled for $175,000.
- Successfully represented numerous female employees who were victims of unwelcomed sexual harassment in the workplace in violation of Title VII, NYSHRL and NYCHRL. The firm has recovered multiple six-figure settlements for these clients.