Securities Fraud
the most prominent securities class action attorneys in the country
Hon. Melinda Harmon, Southern District of Texas, In re Enron Corp. Sec., Derivative & "ERISA" Litig.
Robbins Geller is a leader in the fight to protect investors from corporate securities fraud. The Firm has represented more institutional investors, pension funds, and financial institutions in securities litigation than any other law firm in the United States. Robbins Geller has recovered tens of billions of dollars for investors and has established corporate governance changes, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide.
The Firm’s reputation for excellence has been repeatedly noted by the courts, resulting in the appointment of its attorneys to leadership roles in some of the largest securities cases in the United States.
The Firm’s cases include:
- In re Enron Corp. Sec. Litig., No. 4:01-cv-03624 (S.D. Tex.). Robbins Geller attorneys and lead plaintiff The Regents of the University of California aggressively pursued numerous defendants, including many of Wall Street’s biggest banks, and successfully obtained settlements in excess of $7.2 billion for the benefit of investors. This is the largest securities class action recovery in history.
- Jaffe v. Household Int’l, Inc., No. 1:01-cv-05893 (N.D. Ill.). As sole lead counsel, Robbins Geller obtained a record-breaking settlement of $1.575 billion after 14 years of litigation, including a six-week jury trial in 2009 that resulted in a securities fraud verdict in favor of the class. In 2015, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the jury’s verdict that defendants made false or misleading statements of material fact about the company’s business practices and financial results, but remanded the case for a new trial on the issue of whether the individual defendants “made” certain false statements, whether those false statements caused plaintiffs’ losses, and the amount of damages. The parties reached an agreement to settle the case just hours before the retrial was scheduled to begin on June 6, 2016. The $1.575 billion settlement, approved in October 2016, is the largest ever following a securities fraud class action trial, the largest securities fraud settlement in the Seventh Circuit, and the eighth-largest settlement ever in a post-PSLRA securities fraud case. According to published reports, the case was just the seventh securities fraud case tried to a verdict since the passage of the PSLRA.
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In re Valeant Pharms. Int’l, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 3:15-cv-07658 (D.N.J.). As sole lead counsel, Robbins Geller attorneys obtained preliminary approval of a $1.2 billion settlement in the securities case that Vanity Fair reported as “the corporate scandal of its era” that had raised “fundamental questions about the functioning of our health-care system, the nature of modern markets, and the slippery slope of ethical rationalizations.” The settlement resolves claims that defendants made false and misleading statements regarding Valeant’s business and financial performance during the class period, attributing Valeant’s dramatic growth in revenues and profitability to “innovative new marketing approaches” as part of a business model that was low risk and “durable and sustainable.” Valeant is the largest securities class action settlement against a pharmaceutical manufacturer and the ninth largest ever.
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In re Am. Realty Cap. Props., Inc. Litig., No. 1:15-mc-00040 (S.D.N.Y.). As sole lead counsel, Robbins Geller attorneys zealously litigated the case arising out of ARCP’s manipulative accounting practices and obtained a $1.025 billion settlement. For five years, the litigation team prosecuted nine different claims for violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities Act of 1933, involving seven different stock or debt offerings and two mergers. The recovery represents the highest percentage of damages of any major PSLRA case prior to trial and includes the largest personal contributions by individual defendants in history.
- In re UnitedHealth Grp. Inc. PSLRA Litig., No. 0:06-cv-01891 (D. Minn.). In the UnitedHealth case, Robbins Geller represented the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and obtained an $895 million recovery on behalf of UnitedHealth shareholders. Former CEO William A. McGuire paid $30 million and returned stock options representing more than three million shares to the shareholders, bringing the total recovery for the class to over $925 million. This is the largest stock option backdating recovery in history, and is more than four times larger than the next largest options backdating recovery. Additionally, Robbins Geller obtained unprecedented corporate governance reforms, including election of a shareholder-nominated member to the company’s board of directors and a mandatory holding period for shares acquired by executives.
- Alaska Elec. Pension Fund v. CitiGroup, Inc. (In re WorldCom Sec. Litig.), 1:03-cv-08269 (S.D.N.Y.). Robbins Geller attorneys represented more than 50 private and public institutions that opted out of the class action case and sued WorldCom’s bankers, officers and directors, and auditors in courts around the country for losses related to WorldCom bond offerings from 1998 to 2001. The Firm’s attorneys recovered more than $650 million for their clients, substantially more than they would have recovered as part of the class.
- Luther v. Countrywide Fin. Corp., No. 2:12-cv-05125 (C.D. Cal.). Robbins Geller attorneys secured a $500 million settlement for institutional and individual investors in what is the largest RMBS purchaser class action settlement in history, and one of the largest class action securities settlements of all time. The unprecedented settlement resolves claims against Countrywide and Wall Street banks that issued the securities. The action was the first securities class action case filed against originators and Wall Street banks as a result of the credit crisis. As co-lead counsel Robbins Geller forged through six years of hard-fought litigation, oftentimes litigating issues of first impression, in order to secure the landmark settlement for its clients and the class.
Strong Collective Expertise:
Robbins Geller is recognized for its formidable securities team, which includes dozens of former federal and state prosecutors, former FBI agents, and forensic investigators. Additionally, the Firm brings a collective expertise to each securities case with its in-house investigators, damage analysts, economists, and forensic accountants. Our investigators include Steven J. Peitler, Brian H. Fitzpatrick, Mark S. Crowley, James Lyons, and Emilio Blasse.
- In re Wachovia Preferred Sec. & Bond/Notes Litig., No. 1:09-cv-06351 (S.D.N.Y.). On behalf of investors in bonds and preferred securities issued between 2006 and 2008, Robbins Geller and co-counsel obtained a significant settlement with Wachovia successor Wells Fargo & Company and Wachovia auditor KPMG LLP. The total settlement – $627 million – is one of the largest credit-crisis settlements involving Securities Act claims and one of the 20 largest securities class action recoveries in history. The settlement is also one of the biggest securities class action recoveries arising from the credit crisis.
- In re Cardinal Health, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 2:04-cv-00575 (S.D. Ohio). As sole lead counsel representing Cardinal Health shareholders, Robbins Geller obtained a recovery of $600 million for investors. At the time, the $600 million settlement was the tenth-largest settlement in the history of securities fraud litigation and is the largest recovery in a securities fraud action in the Sixth Circuit.
- AOL Time Warner Cases I & II, JCCP Nos. 4322 & 4325 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cnty.). Robbins Geller represented The Regents of the University of California and numerous domestic and international pension funds in state and federal court opt-out litigation stemming from Time Warner’s disastrous 2001 merger with Internet high flier America Online. After almost four years of litigation involving extensive discovery, the Firm secured combined settlements for its opt-out clients totaling over $629 million just weeks before The Regents’ case pending in California state court was scheduled to go to trial. The Regents’ gross recovery of $246 million is the largest individual opt-out securities recovery in history.
- In re HealthSouth Corp. Sec. Litig., No. 2:03-cv-01500 (N.D. Ala.). As court-appointed co-lead counsel, Robbins Geller attorneys obtained a combined recovery of $671 million from HealthSouth, its auditor Ernst & Young, and its investment banker, UBS, for the benefit of stockholder plaintiffs. The settlement against HealthSouth represents one of the larger settlements in securities class action history and is considered among the top 15 settlements achieved after passage of the PSLRA. Likewise, the settlement against Ernst & Young is one of the largest securities class action settlements entered into by an accounting firm since the passage of the PSLRA.
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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.
- In re Dynegy Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 4:02-cv-01571 (S.D. Tex.). As sole lead counsel representing The Regents of the University of California and the class of Dynegy investors, Robbins Geller attorneys obtained a combined settlement of $474 million from Dynegy, Citigroup, Inc., and Arthur Andersen LLP for their involvement in a clandestine financing scheme known as Project Alpha.
- In re Qwest Commc’ns Int’l, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 1:01-cv-1451 (D. Colo.). In July 2001, the Firm filed the initial complaint in this action on behalf of its clients, long before any investigation into Qwest’s financial statements was initiated by the SEC or Department of Justice. After five years of litigation, lead plaintiffs entered into a settlement with Qwest and certain individual defendants that provided a $400 million recovery for the class and created a mechanism that allowed the vast majority of class members to share in an additional $250 million recovered by the SEC. In 2008, Robbins Geller attorneys recovered an additional $45 million for the class in a settlement with defendants Joseph P. Nacchio and Robert S. Woodruff, the CEO and CFO, respectively, of Qwest.
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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.
- Smilovits v. First Solar, Inc., No. 2:12-cv-00555 (D. Ariz.). As sole lead counsel, Robbins Geller obtained a $350 million settlement in Smilovits v. First Solar, Inc. The settlement, which was reached after a long legal battle and on the day before jury selection, resolves claims that First Solar violated §§10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5. The settlement is the fifth-largest PSLRA settlement ever recovered in the Ninth Circuit.
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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.
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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.
- In re AT&T Corp. Sec. Litig., MDL No. 1399 (D.N.J.). Robbins Geller attorneys served as lead counsel for a class of investors that purchased AT&T common stock. The case charged defendants AT&T and its former Chairman and CEO, C. Michael Armstrong, with violations of the federal securities laws in connection with AT&T’s April 2000 initial public offering of its wireless tracking stock, one of the largest IPOs in American history. After two weeks of trial, and on the eve of scheduled testimony by Armstrong and infamous telecom analyst Jack Grubman, defendants agreed to settle the case for $100 million.
- Silverman v. Motorola, Inc., No. 1:07-cv-04507 (N.D. Ill.). The Firm served as lead counsel on behalf of a class of investors in Motorola, Inc., ultimately recovering $200 million for investors just two months before the case was set for trial. This outstanding result was obtained despite the lack of an SEC investigation or any financial restatement.
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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.
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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.
- In re LendingClub Sec. Litig., No. 3:16-cv-02627 (N.D. Cal.). Robbins Geller attorneys obtained a $125 million settlement for the court-appointed lead plaintiff Water and Power Employees’ Retirement, Disability and Death Plan of the City of Los Angeles and the class. The settlement resolved allegations that LendingClub promised investors an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a revolutionary lending market fueled by the highest standards of honesty and integrity. The settlement ranked among the top ten largest securities recoveries ever in the Northern District of California.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
- Plumbers & Pipefitters Nat’l Pension Fund v. Burns, No. 3:05-cv-07393 (N.D. Ohio). After 11 years of hard-fought litigation, Robbins Geller attorneys secured a $64 million recovery for shareholders in a case that accused the former heads of Dana Corp. of securities fraud for trumpeting the auto parts maker’s condition while it actually spiraled toward bankruptcy. The Firm’s Appellate Practice Group successfully appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals twice, reversing the district court’s dismissal of the action.
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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.
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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.