Law360 Talks with Partners Randall J. Baron and David A. Knotts About $192.5 Million Walgreens Suit

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys secured a landmark $192.5 million recovery for Rite Aid investors earlier this month, believed to be a first-of-its-kind securities fraud case – and the largest securities class action recovery in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and second-largest such recovery in any Pennsylvania federal court.

Law360’s Emma Cueto sat down with partners Randall J. Baron and David A. Knotts to talk about “how they won it,” legal issues at play in the case – including why they expected to win or lose on the motion to compel, the team’s creative legal approach to those issues, and their perspectives on the outcome.

In a rare instance of a securities recovery paid by one company to the shareholders of a different company over misleading statements in connection with the antitrust review of a merger, Walgreens agreed to pay $192.5 million to Rite Aid shareholders following the 2017 collapse of a proposed merger between the pharmacy giants, a 26% drop in stock prices, and eight years of litigation.

“To our knowledge, this is the only such successful case in history,” said Knotts. “So we knew there wasn't a blueprint out there. But we also knew that investors were harmed. . . . So we had to be somewhat creative and inventive.”

The landmark settlement resolves claims that Walgreens, its CEO Stefano Pessina, and its CFO George R. Fairweather were aware of FTC skepticism about the merger but despite that awareness publicly expressed confidence in the merger.

“We were really honored to come up with this result,” Baron said. “It took a long time. This was not a simple case. . . . Getting a settlement like this, it's a phenomenal result.”

Read the Law360 article at https://www.law360.com/pulse/articles/1806884

About Robbins Geller

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world’s leading complex litigation firms, representing plaintiffs in securities fraud, shareholder derivative, antitrust, corporate takeover, and consumer fraud and privacy cases. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller is one of the world’s largest plaintiffs’ firms, and the Firm’s attorneys have obtained many of the largest securities, antitrust, and consumer class action recoveries in history.

The Firm is ranked #1 on the most recent ISS Securities Class Action Services Top 50 Report for recovering more than $1.75 billion for investors in 2022 – the third year in a row Robbins Geller tops the list. And in those three years alone, Robbins Geller recovered nearly $5.3 billion for investors, more than double the amount recovered by any other plaintiffs’ firm. The Firm secured the largest-ever securities fraud class action settlement – $7.2 billion – in In re Enron Corp. Securities Litigation.

For media inquiries, please contact media@rgrdlaw.com or call (619) 338-3821.

Chabot v. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., No. 1:18-cv-02118-JPW (M.D. Pa.).