Parmalat
Practice Area: Securities SuccessIn this ongoing litigation, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC has successfully negotiated two partial settlements totaling approximately $90 million. At the second partial settlement hearing, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan remarked that plaintiffs counsel ”did a wonderful job here for the class and were in all respects totally professional and totally prepared. I wish I had counsel this good in front of me in every case.” Our clients, four large European institutional investors, were appointed as co-lead plaintiffs and we were appointed as co-lead counsel. Most notably, this case allowed us the opportunity to demonstrate our expertise in the bankruptcy area. During the litigation, the company subsequently emerged from bankruptcy and we added “New Parmalat” as a defendant because of the egregious fraud committed by the now-bankrupt old Parmalat. New Parmalat strenuously objected and Judge Kaplan of the Southern District of New York ruled in the class plaintiffs’ favor, a ruling which was affirmed on appeal. This innovative approach of adding New Parmalat enabled the class to obtain an important additional source of compensation, as we subsequently settled with New Parmalat.
Parmalat’s bankruptcy filing was the biggest corporate bankruptcy in Europe, and in December 2003, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a suit charging Parmalat with “one of the largest and most brazen corporate financial frauds in history.”