Milberg
Formerly | Milberg Weiss LLP Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP |
---|---|
Company type | Private |
Industry | Law |
Founded | 1965 |
Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, and Netherlands |
Website | milberg |
Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC (formerly known as Milberg LLP, Milberg Weiss LLP and Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP) is a US plaintiffs' law firm, established in 1965 and based in New York City. It has mounted many class action cases on behalf of investors.[1]
Founding and history
In May 2004, Milberg was the largest plaintiff law firm in the United States, with over 200 attorneys, responsible, at least in part, for over 50 percent of all securities class action cases settled in 2002.[3]
In 2006[4][5][6][7] and 2007, the number of staff in the firm shrunk by more than half. As of June 2008, the firm's website lists only 53 full-time attorneys (29 partners and 24 associates). The firm was extensively restructured over the subsequent years.
In 2018, Milberg merged with Sanders Philips Grossman, a mass tort firm known for its class action lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, to form Milberg Tadler Phillips Grossman.[8][9][10] In 2019, former partner Steven Schulman sued the firm, and settled.[11][12] In 2021, Milberg Phillips Grossman LLP partnered with Greg Coleman Law PC and Whitfield Bryson LLP to form Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC.[13] The firm opened its first international office in the United Kingdom in 2019. Milberg London was ranked as Band 2 in Chambers and Partners’ category of ‘Group Litigation: Claimant’ in 2023.[14]
The firm's offices are located in New York, London, California, Georgia, Mississippi, Washington, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Puerto Rico.[15]
Notable cases
Milestones in the firm's history include its involvement in the "US Financial" litigation in the early 1970s, one of the earliest large class actions, which resulted in the $50 million recovery for purchasers of the securities of a failed real estate development company. Other cases included the
Milberg was co-lead counsel in a securities fraud class action case against French conglomerate Vivendi. After nearly eight years of litigation, the case was tried to a jury for three months in late 2009, and resulted in a verdict for plaintiffs in January 2010. The jury found Vivendi liable for 57 false or misleading class period statements. Even with claimants who made foreign purchases removed from the class after the Supreme Court's Morrison v. National Australia Bank decision, total damages claims exceeded $1 billion.[20]
Also in 2010, Milberg won a victory before the
On August 24, 2011, the
Milberg represented a healthcare worker in a whistleblower suit against his former employer
On April 15, 2021, Milberg received a $11.1 million verdict on behalf of client Scott Kingston, who alleged IBM wrongfully terminated him after raising claims of racial bias in the treatment of his subordinates.[15] The award was recognized as one of the top-ten verdict of the year in Top Verdict's Labor & Employment Category.[25]
In 2022, Milberg successfully won $50 million in a California oil spill lawsuit against Amplify Energy, the operator of a pipeline that spilled thousands of gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean.[26] Other notable cases in 2022 include winning a dam collapse case in Brazil[27] and representing FanCentro in a lawsuit against rival company OnlyFans.[28] Milberg also represented dozens of plaintiffs in a case against the Tennessee Valley Authority in 2022.[29]
In November 2022, Milberg brought suit against ExxonMobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and BP, accusing the fossil fuel giants of misrepresenting the dangers of their carbon-based products. Milberg represents 16 municipalities in Puerto Rico seeking damages for the devastating impact of Hurricane Maria and other storms.[30][31]
In January 2023, Milberg helped reach a $106 million settlement with the City of Charlotte over Charlotte Water's ability to charge development fees prior to 2017 and the methodology used to determine how much developers would pay in order to comply with state law. Milberg argued Charlotte Water's charges were ultra vires, or beyond its powers.[32]
In May 2023, Milberg reached a confidential settlement with Jacobs Solutions on behalf of workers sickened during the cleanup of a
Recoveries
Case | Result |
In re Tyco International Ltd. Securities Litigation (D.N.H.)[34] | Milberg served as co-lead counsel in this litigation, which involved federal securities claims against Tyco and its former CEO, CFO, general counsel and certain former directors arising out of alleged insider trading and the overstatement of billions of dollars in income. In 2007, the court approved a record $3.2 billion settlement that was recovered from Tyco and its auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers. |
In re Nortel Networks Corp. Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y.)[35] | Milberg served as lead counsel for the class and the court-appointed lead plaintiff, the Trustees of the Ontario Public Service Employees' Union Pension Plan Trust Fund in this federal securities class action. In January 2007, the court approved a settlement valued at more than $1.14 billion. |
Carlson v. Xerox, No. 00-1621 (D. Conn.)[36] | Milberg served as plaintiffs' co-lead counsel in these consolidated cases alleging that Xerox and several officers violated the federal securities laws by issuing false financial statements. Plaintiffs' claims survived three motions to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment, ultimately resulting in a $750 million settlement in 2009. It ranked among the largest recoveries in securities litigation history. |
In re Initial Public Offering Securities Litigation, No. 21-92 (S.D.N.Y.)[37] | Milberg represented investors in 310 securities class actions alleging a market manipulation scheme involving hundreds of initial public offerings and approximately 55 defendant investment banks. As a member of the court-appointed liaison counsel, Milberg oversaw the efforts of approximately 60 plaintiffs' firms and helped in the recovery of a $586 million settlement. |
Lucent Technologies, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 00-621 (D.N.J.)[38] | Milberg served as co-lead counsel in this securities action, which alleged that Lucent and its senior officers misrepresented the demand for Lucent's products and improperly recognized hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues. The case resulted in a $600 million settlement. |
Raytheon Co. Securities Litigation, No. 99-1349 (E.D. Pa.)[39] | Milberg served as lead counsel in this case, which alleged that a major defense contractor failed to properly write down assets on construction contracts. In 2004, Raytheon and its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, settled the case for a total of $460 million. |
In re Sears Roebuck and Co. Securities Litigation (N.D. Ill.)[40] | This case involved allegations that Sears concealed material adverse information concerning the financial condition, performance, and prospects of Sears' credit card operations, resulting in artificially inflated stock prices. Class action resulted in a $215 million settlement in 2007. |
In re CMS Energy Securities Litigation (E.D. Mich.)[41] | $200 million was recovered for purchasers of CMS stock in securities class action alleging failure to disclose "round-trip" trading of energy contracts. Milberg served as co-lead counsel for the class. |
In re Biovail Corp., Securities Litigation (N.D.N.Y.)[42] | Milberg, serving as co-lead counsel, achieved a $40 million settlement on behalf of current and former G.E. employees who claimed that G.E.'s 401(k) Plan fiduciaries imprudently invested more than two-thirds of the Plan's assets in company stock. The settlement included important structural changes to G.E.'s 401(k) plan valued at more than $100 million. |
Managed Care Litigation (S.D. Fla.)[43] | Recoveries of over $1 billion and major changes in HMO practices of CIGNA Healthcare and Aetna. The settlement stems from a series of lawsuits by physicians and medical associations alleging that insurers engaged in a scheme to obstruct, reduce, delay, and deny payments and reimbursements to health care providers. |
In re Washington Public Power Supply System Securities Litigation (D. Ariz.)[44] | A massive securities fraud litigation in which Milberg served as co-lead counsel for a class that obtained, after several months of trial, settlements totaling $775 million, the largest ever securities fraud settlement at that time. |
NASDAQ Market Makers Antitrust Litigation (S.D.N.Y.)[45] | In the largest antitrust settlement in history, $1.027 billion was obtained in 2007 for plaintiffs who alleged that market-makers conspired to set and maintain wide spreads in securities transactions. |
See also
References
- ^ Badawi, Adam B.; Webber, David H. (2015). "Does the Quality of the Plaintiffs' Law Firm Matter in Deal Litigation?". The Journal of Corporation Law. 41 (2): 120. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
- ISBN 9780674736795.
- ^ "1995–2003 Securities Settlements Review (pdf)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 12, 2006.
- ^ Milberg Weiss Is Charged With Bribery and Fraud, Julie Creswell, The New York Times, May 18, 2006.
- ^ U. S. Department of Justice press release.
- ^ Peter Elkind (November 3, 2006). "The fall of America's meanest law firm: Milberg Weiss, the lawsuit factory that took corporations for $45 billion, is in the feds' cross hairs". Fortune.
- ^ "Class-action lawsuits". The Economist. June 30, 2005.
- ^ Laird, Lorelei (8 January 2018). "Milberg joins forces with mass tort firm Sanders Philips Grossman". ABA Journal. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- ^ "Class action law firm Milberg joins forces with pharmaceutical litigation law firm". Global Legal Post. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
- ^ Flaherty, Scott (8 January 2018). "Milberg Joins Forces With Mass Torts, Personal Injury Firm". Retrieved 23 December 2019.
- ^ (https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2019/06/11/former-partner-reaches-confidential-deal-with-milberg-in-15m-payment-dispute/
- ^ Newsham, Jack (8 May 2019). "Milberg Claims Firm Cheated Out of $12M Fee in Argentine Bond Case". New York Law Journal. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
- ^ "Milberg Merges With 3 Plaintiff Firms to Form International Law Practice | New York Law Journal".
- ^ "Milberg London LLP, Group Litigation: Claimant | Chambers UK Profile". chambers.com.
- ^ a b "Milberg Wins $11.1 Million Verdict For IBM Sales Manager Fired After Reporting Bias". AP News. April 16, 2021.
- ^ United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (31 December 1969). "524 F2d 891 Blackie v. Barrack Ampex Corporation". p. 891.
- ^ "Banken und Finanzprodukte im Vergleich - BankVergleich.com". BankVergleich.com (in German).
- ^ "Master File No. C-05-1219 MMC" (PDF). SCAC | Securities Class Action Clearinghouse.
- ^ "Corporate Defendants Prevail at High Court | New York Law Journal".
- ^ "Vivendi Wins Ruling Limiting Class-Action Fraud Verdict (2)". Bloomberg. February 22, 2011.
- ^ "Merck & Co., Inc. v. Reynolds - SCOTUSblog". SCOTUSblog.
- ^ Judge Approves Sirius Settlement.
- ^ "Medline settles Medicare kickback case for $85 mln". Reuters. March 11, 2011.
- ^ "$23.4 Million for Medical Sales Exec Who Blew the Whistle".
- ^ "Top 10 Labor & Employment Verdicts in the United States in 2021 - TopVerdict.com". topverdict.com.
- ^ Mindock, Clark (October 18, 2022). "Pipeline co agrees to pay $50 mln to settle California oil spill class action" – via www.reuters.com.
- ^ "Court Ruling Paves Way For Brazil Dam Collapse Lawsuit to Proceed". Milberg | Leading Class Action Law Firm.
- ^ "OnlyFans accused of conspiring to blacklist rivals". February 22, 2022 – via www.bbc.com.
- ^ Grzincic, Barbara (May 19, 2022). "TVA contractor can't ditch $3 bln suit by coal-ash cleanup workers – 6th Circ" – via www.reuters.com.
- ^ Gelles, David; Schaff, Erin (July 19, 2023). "She's on a Mission From God: Suing Big Oil for Climate Damages" – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ Mindock, Clark (November 29, 2022). "Puerto Rican towns sue Big Oil under RICO alleging collusion on climate denial" – via www.reuters.com.
- ^ "City of Charlotte loses one lawsuit, settles on second suit over water system fees with real estate developers". wcnc.com. January 20, 2023.
- ^ "Kingston coal ash settlement: What it means for the cleanup workers who sued". Knoxville News Sentinel.
- ^ Associated Press, "Lawyers get 14.5 percent in Tyco Case, $29 million in expenses," Dec. 20, 2007.
- ^ Larry Neumeister,"U.S. judges approves Nortel Networks global settlement," Associated Press, Dec. 26, 2007.
- ^ National Law Journal, "Firms to Watch -- Plaintiffs' Hot List," Oct. 5, 2009.
- ^ Glovin, David, "Banks to Settle Internet IPO suit for $586 million," Bloomberg, June 11, 2009.
- ^ Bloomberg, "Lucent Reaches $568 Million Settlement of Investor Suit," Mar. 27, 2003.
- ^ Associated Press, "Raytheon Settles Stockholder Lawsuit," May 14, 2004.
- ^ PRNewswire, "Sears Roebuck Agrees to Settle Class Action Securities Litigation," May 18, 2006.
- ^ Polson, Jim, "CMS to Settle Shareholder Lawsuits for $200 Million," Bloomberg, Jan. 5, 2007.
- ^ Glovin, David, "Biovail Wins Approval of $138 Million Lawsuit Settlement," Bloomberg, Aug. 8, 2008
- ^ Bloomberg, "Aetna to Pay $170 Million to Settle Class-Action Suit," May 22, 2003.
- ^ Cronin-Fisk, Margaret, "Ten Largest Securities Settlements Total $10.1 Billion, Study Says," Bloomberg, Mar 7, 2005.
- ^ Reuters, "Court Approves Nasdaq Brokers' Settlement," Apr 23, 1997.