Erik W. Luedeke

Erik Luedeke is a partner in Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s San Diego office, where he represents individual and institutional investors in breach of fiduciary duty and securities fraud litigation in state and federal courts nationwide. Erik is a member of the Firm’s Delaware Practice Group.

As corporate fiduciaries, directors and officers are duty-bound to act in the best interest of the corporation and its shareholders. When they fail to do so they breach their fiduciary duty and may be held liable for harm caused to the corporation. Erik’s shareholder derivative practice focuses on litigating breach of fiduciary duty and related claims on behalf of corporations and shareholders injured by wayward corporate fiduciaries. Notable shareholder derivative actions in which he recently participated and the recoveries he helped to achieve include In re Community Health Sys., Inc. S’holder Derivative Litig. ($60 million in financial relief and unprecedented corporate governance reforms), In re Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. S’holder Derivative Litig. ($26 million in financial relief plus substantial governance), and In re Google Inc. S’holder Derivative Litig. ($250 million in financial relief to fund substantial governance).

Erik’s practice also includes the prosecution of complex securities class action cases on behalf of aggrieved investors. Erik was a member of the litigation team in Jaffe v. Household Int’l, Inc., No. 02-C-5893 (N.D. Ill.), that resulted in a record-breaking $1.575 billion settlement after 14 years of litigation, including a six-week jury trial ending in a plaintiffs’ verdict. He was also a member of the litigation teams in In re UnitedHealth Grp. Inc. PSLRA Litig., No. 06-CV-1691 (D. Minn.) ($925 million recovery), and In re Questcor Pharms., Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 8:12-cv-01623 (C.D. Cal.) ($38 million recovery).

Erik has been named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine for three consecutive years. He graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara with honors, earning Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees. Erik received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law, where he served as a Student Comment Editor of the San Diego International Law Journal. 

• Rising Star, Super Lawyers Magazine, 2015-2017

University of San Diego School of Law, J.D., 2006

• Student Comment Editor, San Diego International Law Journal

University of California Santa Barbara, B.S./B.A., 2001

• California
• United States Courts of Appeals for the Third and Eleventh Circuits
• United States District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern Districts of California
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

Notable Cases

Publications

• Erik Luedeke, Danielle S. Myers & Erika Oliver, Delaware Supreme Court Adopts New Three-Part “Universal Test” for Demand Futility, ABA Securities Litigation Journal (Mar. 4, 2022)
• Travis E. Downs III, Benny C. Goodman III, Jay P. Lefkowitz, Erik W. Luedeke, Darren J. Robbins & Matthew Solum, Chapter 4: Mediation Submissions by Plaintiffs and Defendants, in Financial Services Mediation Answer Book 4-1 (Layn R. Phillips et al. ed., 2017)