Securities Fraud

Jones v. Pfizer Inc., No. 1:10-cv-03864 (S.D.N.Y.). Lead plaintiff Stichting Philips Pensioenfonds obtained a $400 million settlement on behalf of class members who purchased Pfizer common stock during the January 19, 2006 to January 23, 2009 class period. The settlement against Pfizer resolves accusations that it misled investors about an alleged off-label drug marketing scheme. As sole lead counsel, Robbins Geller attorneys helped achieve this exceptional result after five years of hard-fought litigation against the toughest and the brightest members of the securities defense bar by litigating this case all the way to trial.

Fort Worth Emps.’ Ret. Fund v. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., No. 1:09-cv-03701 (S.D.N.Y.). Robbins Geller attorneys served as lead counsel for a class of investors and obtained court approval of a $388 million recovery in nine 2007 residential mortgage-backed securities offerings issued by J.P. Morgan. The settlement represents, on a percentage basis, the largest recovery ever achieved in an MBS purchaser class action. The result was achieved after more than five years of hard-fought litigation and an extensive investigation.

NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund v. Goldman Sachs & Co., No. 1:08-cv-10783 (S.D.N.Y.). As sole lead counsel, Robbins Geller obtained a $272 million settlement on behalf of Goldman Sachs’ shareholders. The settlement concludes one of the last remaining mortgage-backed securities purchaser class actions arising out of the global financial crisis. The remarkable result was achieved following seven years of extensive litigation. After the claims were dismissed in 2010, Robbins Geller secured a landmark victory from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that clarified the scope of permissible class actions asserting claims under the Securities Act of 1933 on behalf of MBS investors. Specifically, the Second Circuit’s decision rejected the concept of “tranche” standing and concluded that a lead plaintiff in an MBS class action has class standing to pursue claims on behalf of purchasers of other securities that were issued from the same registration statement and backed by pools of mortgages originated by the same lenders who had originated mortgages backing the lead plaintiff’s securities.

Schuh v. HCA Holdings, Inc., No. 3:11-cv-01033 (M.D. Tenn.). As sole lead counsel, Robbins Geller obtained a groundbreaking $215 million settlement for former HCA Holdings, Inc. shareholders – the largest securities class action recovery ever in Tennessee. Reached shortly before trial was scheduled to commence, the settlement resolves claims that the Registration Statement and Prospectus HCA filed in connection with the company’s massive $4.3 billion 2011 IPO contained material misstatements and omissions. The recovery achieved represents more than 30% of the aggregate classwide damages, far exceeding the typical recovery in a securities class action.

City of Pontiac Gen. Emps.’ Ret. Sys. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 5:12-cv-05162 (W.D. Ark.). Robbins Geller attorneys and lead plaintiff City of Pontiac General Employees’ Retirement System achieved a $160 million settlement in a securities class action case arising from allegations published by The New York Times in an article released on April 21, 2012 describing an alleged bribery scheme that occurred in Mexico. The case charged that Wal-Mart portrayed itself to investors as a model corporate citizen that had proactively uncovered potential corruption and promptly reported it to law enforcement, when in truth, a former in-house lawyer had blown the whistle on Wal-Mart’s corruption years earlier, and Wal-Mart concealed the allegations from law enforcement by refusing its own in-house and outside counsel’s calls for an independent investigation. Robbins Geller “achieved an exceptional [s]ettlement with skill, perseverance, and diligent advocacy,” said Judge Hickey when granting final approval.

Bennett v. Sprint Nextel Corp., No. 2:09-cv-02122 (D. Kan.). As co-lead counsel, Robbins Geller obtained a $131 million recovery for a class of Sprint investors. The settlement, secured after five years of hard-fought litigation, resolved claims that former Sprint executives misled investors concerning the success of Sprint’s ill-advised merger with Nextel and the deteriorating credit quality of Sprint’s customer base, artificially inflating the value of Sprint’s securities.

Knurr v. Orbital ATK, Inc., No. 1:16-cv-01031 (E.D. Va.). In the Orbital securities class action, Robbins Geller obtained court approval of a $108 million recovery for the class. The Firm succeeded in overcoming two successive motions to dismiss the case, and during discovery were required to file ten motions to compel, all of which were either negotiated to a resolution or granted in large part, which resulted in the production of critical evidence in support of plaintiffs’ claims. Believed to be the fourth-largest securities class action settlement in the history of the Eastern District of Virginia, the settlement provides a recovery for investors that is more than ten times larger than the reported median recovery of estimated damages for all securities class action settlements in 2018.

Hsu v. Puma Biotechnology, No. SACV15-0865 (C.D. Cal.). After a two-week jury trial, Robbins Geller attorneys won a complete plaintiffs’ verdict against both defendants on both claims, with the jury finding that Puma Biotechnology, Inc. and its CEO, Alan H. Auerbach, committed securities fraud. The Puma case is only the fifteenth securities class action case tried to a verdict since the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act was enacted in 1995.

Marcus v. J.C. Penney Co., Inc., No. 13-cv-00736 (E.D. Tex.).  Robbins Geller attorneys obtained a $97.5 million recovery on behalf of J.C. Penney shareholders. The result resolves claims that J.C. Penney and certain officers and directors made misstatements and/or omissions regarding the company’s financial position that resulted in artificially inflated stock prices. Specifically, defendants failed to disclose and/or misrepresented adverse facts, including that J.C. Penney would have insufficient liquidity to get through year-end and would require additional funds to make it through the holiday season, and that the company was concealing its need for liquidity so as not to add to its vendors’ concerns.

Monroe County Employees’ Retirement System v. The Southern Company, No. 1:17-cv-00241 (N.D. Ga.). As lead counsel, Robbins Geller obtained an $87.5 million settlement in a securities class action on behalf of plaintiffs Monroe County Employees’ Retirement System and Roofers Local No. 149 Pension Fund. The settlement resolves claims for violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 stemming from defendants’ issuance of materially misleading statements and omissions regarding the status of construction of a first-of-its-kind “clean coal” power plant in Kemper County, Mississippi. Plaintiffs alleged that these misstatements caused The Southern Company’s stock price to be artificially inflated during the class period.  Prior to resolving the case, Robbins Geller uncovered critical documentary evidence and deposition testimony supporting plaintiffs’ claims. In granting final approval of the settlement, the court praised Robbins Geller for its “hard-fought litigation in the Eleventh Circuit” and its “experience, reputation, and abilities of [its] attorneys,” and highlighted that the firm is “well-regarded in the legal community, especially in litigating class-action securities cases.”

Chicago Laborers Pension Fund v. Alibaba Grp. Holding Ltd., No. CIV535692 (Cal. Super. Ct., San Mateo Cnty.). Robbins Geller attorneys and co-counsel obtained a $75 million settlement in the Alibaba Group Holding Limited securities class action, resolving investors’ claims that Alibaba violated the Securities Act of 1933 in connection with its September 2014 initial public offering. Chicago Laborers Pension Fund served as a plaintiff in the action.

Luna v. Marvell Tech. Grp., Ltd., No. 3:15-cv-05447 (N.D. Cal.). In the Marvell litigation, Robbins Geller attorneys represented the Plumbers and Pipefitters National Pension Fund and obtained a $72.5 million settlement. The case involved claims that Marvell reported revenue and earnings during the class period that were misleading as a result of undisclosed pull-in and concession sales. The settlement represents approximately 24% to 50% of the best estimate of classwide damages suffered by investors who purchased shares during the February 19, 2015 through December 7, 2015 class period.

Garden City Emps.’ Ret. Sys. v. Psychiatric Solutions, Inc., No. 3:09-cv-00882 (M.D. Tenn.). In the Psychiatric Solutions case, Robbins Geller represented lead plaintiff and class representative Central States, Southeast, and Southwest Areas Pension Fund in litigation spanning more than four years. Psychiatric Solutions and its top executives were accused of insufficiently staffing their in-patient hospitals, downplaying the significance of regulatory investigations and manipulating their malpractice reserves. Just days before trial was set to commence, attorneys from Robbins Geller achieved a $65 million settlement that was the fourth-largest securities recovery ever in the district and the largest in a decade.

In re BHP Billiton Ltd. Sec. Litig., No. 1:16-cv-01445 (S.D.N.Y.). As lead counsel, Robbins Geller obtained a $50 million class action settlement against BHP, a Australian-based mining company that was accused of failing to disclose significant safety problems at the Fundão iron-ore dam, in Brazil. The Firm achieved this result for lead plaintiffs City of Birmingham Retirement and Relief System and City of Birmingham Firemen’s and Policemen’s Supplemental Pension System, on behalf of purchasers of the American Depositary Shares (“ADRs”) of defendants BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton Plc (together, “BHP”) from September 25, 2014 to November 30, 2015.

In re St. Jude Med., Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 0:10-cv-00851 (D. Minn.). After four and a half years of litigation and mere weeks before the jury selection, Robbins Geller obtained a $50 million settlement on behalf of investors in medical device company St. Jude Medical. The settlement resolves accusations that St. Jude Medical misled investors by utilizing heavily discounted end-of-quarter bulk sales to meet quarterly expectations, which created a false picture of demand by increasing customer inventory due of St. Jude Medical devices. The complaint alleged that the risk of St. Jude Medical’s reliance on such bulk sales manifested when it failed to meet its forecast guidance for the third quarter of 2009, which the company had reaffirmed only weeks earlier.