Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP ("Robbins Geller" or the "Firm") is a limited liability partnership, governed by a seven-member Executive Committee with a total employee population of 425. Founding partners are Darren J. Robbins,^[1] Paul J. Geller,^[2] Samuel H. Rudman,^[3] and Michael J. Dowd.^[4]

Robbins Geller is the largest law firm in the world concentrating on the representation of U.S. and international investors in securities and corporate governance litigation on a contingent basis. In addition to litigation services, Robbins Geller monitors the investment portfolios of hundreds of institutional investors, including public and multi-employer pension funds, fund managers, banks and insurance companies with more than $2 trillion in assets to aid them in fraud detection. The Firm has 200 lawyers in 10 offices, and has obtained some of the largest recoveries in history. Robbins Geller and its individual attorneys are repeatedly ranked highly by publications, studies and research reports. The ISS Securities Class Action Services’ ("SCAS") "Top 100" Report continues to rank Robbins Geller amongst the top firms. The Firm ranks in the top 5 firms that are most frequently lead counsel in the top 100 securities litigation settlements. In the top 10 cases, the Firm is prominent with both highly ranked settlements and over 31% of the overall recovery value. In total, Robbins Geller has recovered more than $15 billion in settlements from the top 100 cases alone. Additionally, the ISS SCAS Top 50 Report ranks the Firm first in terms of settlement count with a total of 30 settlements.^[5][6]

The Firm has 10 offices, located in San Diego, Atlanta, Boca Raton, Chicago, Manhattan, Melville, Nashville, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.^[7]

Areas of Practice

Robbins Geller represents plaintiffs in litigation involving securities fraud, corporate takeovers, shareholder derivative claims, intellectual property, consumer and insurance fraud, and antitrust claims, as well as whistleblower protection and qui tam suits.^[8]

Notable Cases and Record Recoveries

Robbins Geller has obtained some of the largest recoveries in history, including the largest securities class action recovery, the largest antitrust class action settlement, the largest securities class action judgment, the largest stock option backdating recovery, the largest opt-out (non-class) securities class action action recovery, the largest RMBS purchaser class action recovery, and the largest merger & acquisition recovery.^[9]

● Largest antitrust class action settlement of $5.7 billion against Visa/MasterCard in In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation. The settlement provided for the creation of two cash funds, estimated at a combined $5.7 billion, as well as significant changes to rules regarding acceptance of Visa and MasterCard credit cards, including the ability for merchants to surcharge certain transactions. Robbins Geller was one of three firms appointed to serve as class counsel.^[10]

● Largest opt-out (non-class) securities action recovery of $657 million against WorldCom in In re WorldCom Securities Litigation. 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.^[11]

● Largest merger & acquisition recovery of $200 million from Kinder Morgan in In re Kinder Morgan, Inc. Shareholders Litigation. In November 2010, Shawnee County District Court Judge David Bruns in Topeka, Kansas granted final approval of a $200 million settlement of a class action lawsuit arising from the leveraged buyout of Kinder Morgan, Inc. The case was one of the largest securities class action cases to be settled in 2010 and the largest post-merger common fund settlement ever.^[12]

● Obtained $629 million recovery in In re AOL Time Warner, Inc. Securities and "ERISA" Litigation. The AOL Time Warner litigation arose out of the disastrous merger of AOL and Time Warner, which the companies consummated while AOL was falsifying its financial results. Over 100 of Robbins Geller’s institutional clients followed the Firm’s recommendation to "opt-out" of the securities fraud class action settlement and instead pursued individual actions. By doing so, those institutional clients successfully recovered $629 million, approximately 1,300% of what they would have received in the class action settlement.^[13]

● Secured a $627 million settlement in In re Wachovia Preferred Sec. & Bond/Notes Litigation. The global recovery, including $590 million from Wells Fargo and $37 million from Wachovia’s auditor, KPMG, is one of the largest recoveries under the Securities Act of 1933 arising out of the credit crisis. The lawsuit focused on Wachovia’s exposure to "pick-a-pay" loans, which the bank’s offering materials assured were of "pristine credit quality." Investors had alleged that these loans were made to subprime borrowers, many of whom defaulted, which ultimately led to a massive impairment of the bank’s mortgage portfolio, and alleged that Wachovia’s offering documents materially misstated and failed to disclose the true nature and quality of Wachovia’s mortgage loan portfolio, which exposed the bank to tens of billions of dollars in losses on mortgage-related assets and misled investors. Robbins Geller was one of these firms appointed to represent the class.^[14][15]

● Obtained a $600 million recovery for Cardinal Health shareholders in In re Cardinal Health, Inc. Securities Litigation. As sole lead counsel, Robbins Geller attorneys obtained the settlement is the largest recovery in a securities fraud action in the Sixth Circuit. Ohio’s biggest drug distributor was accused of misleading investors for overstating earnings.^[16]

● Obtained preliminary approval of a $590.5 million settlement with three private equity firms: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the Blackstone Group and TPG. The accusations were that the three firms colluded with one another to drive down the prices of corporate takeover targets. This resulted in investors receiving less per share for their shares in the target companies. The case was filed as Kirk Dahl, et al. v. Bain Capital Partners, LLC, et al. Robbins Geller was one of these firms appointed to represent the class.^[17]

● Obtained preliminary approval of a $400 million class action settlement with Pfizer, Inc. in Jones v. Pfizer Inc. Pfizer was accused of misleading investors in connection with off-label marketing, making false statements to shareholders, and making misleading statements about various government investigations.^[18][19]

● Obtained a $265 million settlement in In re Massey Energy Co. Securities Litigation. The shareholder suit stemmed from the country’s worst coal mine disaster in more than 40 years. Massey Energy, its executives and its board have been targeted in civil and criminal actions since the April 5, 2010 explosion at its Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia, which killed 29 workers. A government investigation found that the explosion was the result of basic safety violations and unlawful policies and practices. Robbins Geller represented shareholders that claimed Massey made false and misleading statements and omissions about its health and safety practices, policies and results, and that its true conduct was revealed through the Upper Big Branch disaster and subsequent disclosures.^[20]

● Obtained a $200 million recovery in Silverman v. Motorola, Inc. Robbins Geller represented lead plaintiffs in this action alleging false and misleading statements about Motorola’s ability to deliver new 3G handsets. This result was obtained despite the lack of an SEC investigation or any financial restatement.^[21]

● Obtained a $150 million class action lawsuit against TXU Corporation in Schwartz v. TXU Corp. As co-lead counsel, Robbins Geller attorneys obtained a recovery of over $149 million for a class of purchasers of TXU securities. The recovery compensated class members for damages they incurred as a result of their purchases of TXU securities at inflated prices.^[22]

● Secured a $95 million stock inflation class action lawsuit against VeriFone. In re VeriFone Holdings, Inc. Securities Litigation. This recovery was made after an appellate court reversed in part and affirmed in part the dismissal of investors' securities fraud class action alleging violations of Sections 10(b), 20(a), and 20A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5 in connection with a restatement of financial results of the company in which the investors had purchased stock.^[23]

● Obtained a $75.7 million judgment in In re Rural Metro Corp. Stockholders Litigation. RBC Capital Markets (RBC), an investment banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada, was found liable for aiding and abetting breaches of fiduciary duty by Rural/Metro’s board of directors in connection with the merger/buyout of Rural/Metro. RBC was ordered to pay $75,798,550.33 (plus interest) as a result of its alleged wrongdoing, among the largest damage awards ever obtained against a bank over its role as a deal adviser.^[24]

● Secured a $67 million settlement in City of Westland Police and Fire Retirement System v. Stumpf. The shareholder derivative action alleged Wells Fargo’s directors’ failure to disclose their lack of cooperation in a federal investigation into the bank’s mortgage and foreclosure practices. The shareholder suit arises from allegations that Wells Fargo participated in "robosigning," i.e. mass-processing foreclosure documents.^[25][26]

● Obtained a $65 million shareholder settlement with Psychiatric Solutions. In Garden City Employees' Retirement System v. Psychiatric Solutions Inc. et al., the Firm settled a lawsuit that alleged that the defendant concealed earnings liabilities and deceived investors by concealing information that its facilities were inadequately staffed to assure adequate patient care.^[27]

● Secured a significant recovery in a case against Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's Rating Services in Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank v. Morgan Stanley & Co. The settlement with the credit rating agencies stemmed from allegedly fraudulent ratings assigned to bonds issued by the Cheyne Structured Investment Vehicles.^[28][29]

Providence vs Wall Street

On 18 April 2014 Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the city of Providence, Rhode Island in Federal Court in the Southern District of New York. The complaint in the high frequency matter named "every major stock exchange in the U.S. (including the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, Bats, Direct Edge, etc.) as well as major Wall Street firms (Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Bank of America) along with high frequency trading firms and hedge funds."^[30] The lawsuit claimed that, "For at least the last five years, the Defendants routinely engaged in at least the following manipulative, self-dealing and deceptive conduct," which included "spoofing – where the HFT Defendants send out orders with corresponding cancellations, often at the opening or closing of the stock market, in order to manipulate the market price of a security and/or induce a particular market reaction."^[30]

Recognition and Rankings

Many Robbins Geller attorneys have been recognized as leaders in their field by various publications and organizations.

● The National Law Journal named the Firm to its Elite Trial Lawyers in its 2014 inaugural listing^[31]

● The National Law Journal named the Firm to 2014 "Plaintiffs Hot List"^[32]

● Chambers & Partners Ranks the Firm a Band 1 Law Firm, the highest rating available nationally and in California and New York^[33]

● BTI Consulting Inc. named the Firm one of the "Most Feared Firms in Litigation" as part of BTI’s "Litigation Outlook 2015"^[34]

● Law360 named the Firm one of the "Most Feared Plaintiffs Firms" in 2009, 2013 and 2014^[35] and to its Plaintiffs Securities Firms of the Year list in 2009

● The Legal 500 recognized Robbins Geller as a top-tier plaintiffs' Firm and Randall J. Baron as a "Leading Lawyer"^[36]

● Vault named Robbins Geller one of the "Best Litigation Boutique Law Firms"^[37]

● Forbes selected the Firm to its 2014-2015 Legal Black Book^[38]

● U.S. News Ranked Robbins Geller a National Tier 1 Firm^[39]

● In 2014, Robbins Geller was recognized as a leading firm in M&A class action suits in a Vanderbilt University study^[40]

● California Lawyer named Michael J. Dowd Attorney of the Year in 2010^[41] In 2012, A. Rick Atwood, Jr. and Randall J. Baron were named Attorneys of the Year by the same publication.^[42]

● The American Lawyer named Robbins Geller partners Michael J. Dowd and Jason A. Forge "Litigators of the Week" for their work representing a class action suit against Pfizer Inc.^[43]

● The American Lawyer named Randall J. Baron one of their "Litigators of the Week" for obtaining the successful trial verdict against RBC Capital Markets^[44]

● The San Diego Daily Transcript named Darren J. Robbins one of San Diego's top attorneys in 2010^[45]

● San Diego Magazine named over 14 of the Firm’s attorneys as Top Lawyers to its 2013, 2014, and 2015 lists

● Lawdragon named partners Darren J. Robbins and Paul J. Geller as two of the country's top 500 Leading Lawyers in America for the seventh year in its 2014 rankings^[46]

● Super Lawyers Magazine has ranked many of the Firm’s attorneys as Super Lawyers and/or Rising Stars year after year in San Diego, Southern California, Northern California, Florida, Georgia, New York and Illinois^[47]

References