Cohen Milstein

Bruce Rinaldi, who has over 32 years of ERISA class action and fiduciary litigation experience, joined the Firm in 2004 as Of Counsel and is a member of the Employee Benefits practice group.

While at the Firm, Mr. Rinaldi has been exclusively engaged in ERISA class action practice, during which time he has litigated several dozen fiduciary breach cases, including the following reported decisions:  Hargrave v. TXU Corp., 392 F.Supp.2d 785 (N.D. Tex. 2005); In re Merck & Co., Inc. Securities, Derivative & ERISA Litigation, 2009 WL 331426 (D.N.J. 2009); In re Marsh ERISA Litigation, 2006 WL 3706169 (S.D.N.Y. 2006); In re Beacon Associates Litigation, 282 F.R.D. 315 (S.D.N.Y. 2012); In re Pfizer Inc. ERISA Litigation, 2009 WL 749545 (S.D.N.Y. 2009); and Banyai v. Mazur, 205 F.R.D. 160 (S.D.N.Y. 2002).  Mr. Rinaldi also participated in the litigation of the following ESOP class actions: Hans v. Tharaldson, 2011 WL 6937598 (D.N.D. 2011); Beam v. HSBC Bank, No. 02-CV-0682E(SR) (E.D.N.Y. 2002); and Chesemore v. Alliance Holdings, Inc., 886 F.Supp.2d 1007 (W.D. Wis. 2012).

Prior to joining Cohen Milstein, Mr. Rinaldi worked for four years as the principal ERISA trial counsel for McTigue Law Firm, during which time he participated in the litigation of the following reported and unreported ERISA class actions: In re McKesson HBOC, Inc. ERISA Litigation, 2002 WL 31431588 (N.D. Cal. 2002); In re CMS Energy ERISA Litig., 312 F. Supp. 2d 898 (E.D. Mich. 2004); Koch v. Dwyer, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4085 (S.D.N.Y.  2001); Blyer v. Agee, CV-97-6332 BLW (D. Idaho 1999); Sherrill v. Federal-Mogul, Civ. No. 04-72949 (E.D. Mich. 2004); and In re Xerox Corp. ERISA Litigation, Civ. No. 3:02CV01138(AWT) (D. Conn. 2002).

Before entering private practice, Mr. Rinaldi spent over 20 years in government  conducting complex fiduciary litigation, first under ERISA and later under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (“FIRREA”).  Beginning in 1980, Mr. Rinaldi worked for ten years in the Office of the Solicitor of Labor as the Supervisory Trial Attorney, where he litigated Donovan v. Fitzsimmons (N.D. Ill.), negotiating and drafting a consent decree governing the management of billions of dollars in assets of the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund, which remains in effect today.  Mr. Rinaldi also conducted a four month trial of allegations of ERISA fiduciary breaches with respect to the Teamsters Central States Health and Welfare Fund in Brock v. Robbins (D.C. N.D. Ill.). 

Additionally, he managed the following reported ERISA cases for the Department of Labor: Martin v. Consultants & Administrators, Inc., 966 F.2d 1078 (C.A.7 (Ill.) 1992); Whitfield v. Cohen, 682 F.Supp. 188 (S.D.N.Y. 1988); Brock v. Robbins, 830 F.2d 640 (C.A.7 (Ill.) 1987); and Reich v. Valley National Bank, 837 F. Supp. 1259 (S.D.N.Y. 1993) (one of the first actions by the Department challenging the valuation of sponsor shares purchased by an ESOP).

Mr. Rinaldi also worked for the Office of Thrift Supervision (“OTS”) for ten years in the 1990s as the Associate Chief Counsel for Litigation, a position in which he directed investigations and enforcement actions under FIRREA for fiduciary breaches arising out of failures of thrifts and savings and loan organizations.  He directed all of the enforcement actions taken by the OTS against officers, directors, accountants, and attorneys associated with Lincoln Savings and Loan Association and United Savings Association of Texas, the two largest thrift failures in history.  See In re American Continental Corp./Lincoln Sav. & Loan Securities Litigation (D. Ariz.).

Before joining the government, Mr. Rinaldi clerked for United States District Judge James A. Walsh in Tucson, Arizona, and taught at the University of Arizona School of Law.  After spending three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Venezuela, Mr. Rinaldi earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1969 and received a J.D. from the University of California at Davis (King Hall) in 1972.