Reuters Spotlights “Eye-Popping” $434 Million Settlement in Under Armour Case

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP secured a recovery of $434 million for a class of investors in a securities fraud class action against Under Armour and founder Kevin Plank. Reuters took an in-depth look at how the case developed and the strategies that Robbins Geller attorneys used to achieve an outsize result for investors.

In its June 25 article, “How law firm Robbins Geller won $434 mln post-dismissal settlement with Under Armour,” Reuters analyzed the case in context of an academic study that researched whether top-tier firms achieve better outcomes for their shareholder clients. “By any measure, the settlement is eye-popping for a company with a market cap of $3 billion,” the Reuters article states.

“And it’s important to remember that the outcome was anything but a foregone conclusion in 2017, when lead counsel from Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd launched the case in federal court in Baltimore, or in 2019, when the class section was dismissed without leave to amend.”

Reuters notes that after the case was dismissed, Robbins Geller appealed to the Fourth Circuit. During that process, news broke that Under Armour had settled similar claims for $9 million with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which spawned new class action complaints. The Robbins Geller team urged the trial court to issue an “indicative ruling” stating that it would revive the case if the Fourth Circuit remanded it. 

Robbins Geller partner Robert R. Henssler, Jr. told Reuters “he’d never before asked a trial court for an indicative ruling but followed the advice of the firm’s appellate specialists.”

“The stratagem paid off,” and the Firm went on to win class certification and secured a denial of Under Armour’s motion for summary judgment. The case was just three weeks shy of a jury trial when the settlement was reached.

Partner Darren Robbins told Reuters the $434 million deal is the largest for a previously dismissed investor class action. The previous record was in a case against Alphabet – a settlement of $350 million also secured by the Firm.

The author of the academic study of top-tier firms also told Reuters: the case was a “‘home-run result’” for the Firm and investors.

Read the Reuters article here: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/column-how-law-firm-robbins-geller-won-434-mln-post-dismissal-settlement-with-2024-06-25/  

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.

Over the last decade, our Firm has been ranked #1 on the ISS Securities Class Action Services law firm rankings for six out of the last ten years for securing the most monetary relief for investors. In the last four years, Robbins Geller recovered $6.6 billion for investors in securities-related class action cases – over $2.2 billion more than any other law firm during that time. 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.

In re Under Armour Securities Litigation, No. 1:17-cv-00388-RBD (D. Md.).