January 24, 2024
With an eye toward landmark matters and general excellence, Law360 selected Cohen Milstein as a 2023 Securities Practice Group of the Year.
We have achieved some of the largest securities class action settlements in history, including the historic, all-cash $1 billion settlement against Wells Fargo, ranked the biggest securities class action settlement of 2023, the 17th largest securities class action settlement of all time, and the 6th largest in the last decade.
Five of Cohen Milstein’s 2023-defining securities cases include:
- In re Wells Fargo & Company Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein, as Co-Lead Counsel, represented Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi and the Employees Retirement System of Rhode Island in this securities class action, which alleged that Wells Fargo and certain former executives misrepresented its compliance with a series of 2018 consent orders with the CFPB, OCC, and the Federal Reserve arising from the Bank’s widespread consumer fraud banking scandal. On September 8, 2023, the Court granted final approval of a historic $1 billion settlement, which is the 17th largest securities class action settlement ever, the sixth largest in the last decade, the ninth largest ever in the Second Circuit, and the largest ever without a restatement or related actions by the Securities Exchange Commission or U.S. Department of Justice.
- Iowa Public Employees Retirement System et al. v. Bank of America Corp. (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein is co-counsel in this groundbreaking putative class action, in which investors accuse Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, UBS, J.P. Morgan, and other Wall Street banks of conspiring to thwart the modernization of and preserve their dominance over the $1.7 trillion stock loan market. On September 1, 2023, the court granted preliminary approval of a historic settlement of $499 million in cash along with injunctive relief against defendants Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, UBS, JP Morgan, and EquiLend, bringing total settlements to $580 million thus far. Litigation against Bank of America continues.
- Boeing Derivative Shareholder Litigation (N.D.Ill.)/ Seafarers Pension Plan v. Boeing (Del. Ch.): Cohen Milstein served as sole lead counsel in a federal derivative case brought by the Seafarers Pension Plan against The Boeing Company’s directors and officers arising out of the 737 MAX crashes and alleging federal proxy statement violations in connection with director elections. After the case was dismissed on forum non conveniens grounds, Plaintiffs successfully argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, obtaining a 2-to1, precedent-setting decision reversing the district court’s dismissal of the case based on enforcement of Boeing’s forum selection bylaw. The derivative action ultimately settled on December 14, 2022, along with a companion class action January 13, 2023, which was filed by the Seafarers in Delaware Chancery Court after the district court’s dismissal and challenging the bylaw under Delaware law, for corporate governance reforms valued in excess of $100 million and a $6.25 million payment by the Directors’ insurers to the Company.
- Bayer Securities Class Action (N.D. Cal.): Cohen Milstein is Lead Counsel in this certified securities class action, in which Plaintiffs allege that in connection with its $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto, Bayer misrepresented the rigor of its due diligence and the nature of the legal risk presented by Monsanto’s flagship product, the herbicide Roundup. Bayer investors incurred significant losses after bellwether jury trials in toxic tort cases repeatedly found in favor of the plaintiffs against Monsanto, including finding that Roundup was a “substantial factor” in causing the plaintiffs’ non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and leading to jury awards totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Set Capital, et al. v. Credit Suisse Grp. AG, et al. (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein is Co-Lead Counsel in this path-breaking securities class action alleging fraud and market manipulation of XIV Exchange Traded Notes. On March 17, 2023, the court certified one of three proposed investor classes.
Read 2023 Securities Practice Group Of the Year: Cohen Milstein.