Bear Stearns Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates Litigation
Bear Stearns MBS Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein as co-lead counsel represented the New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund in a $505 million landmark settlement (including a $5 million expense fund) of a securities class action suit alleging that Bear Stearns violated securities laws in the sale of mortgage-backed securities to investors. This is the largest recovery ever obtained in a securities class action on behalf of investors in mortgage-backed securities.
Boeing Derivative Shareholder Litigation
Boeing Derivative Shareholder Litigation (N.D. Ill.): 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-to-1, 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.
BP Securities Litigation
BP Securities Litigation (S.D. Tex.): Cohen Milstein served as Co-Lead Counsel, representing the New York State Common Retirement Fund in this certified securities class action, stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Plaintiffs allege that after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, BP and two of its senior executives misled investors about the severity of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which impeded investors’ ability to assess the financial implications of the spill on BP. The case settled for $175 million a few weeks before trial was set to begin. Final approval was granted in February 2017.
City of Birmingham Firemen’s and Policemen’s Supplemental Pension System v. Credit Suisse Group AG, et al.
City of Birmingham Firemen’s and Policemen’s Supplemental Pension System v. Credit Suisse Group AG, et al. (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein, as Co-Lead Counsel, represented plaintiffs in this class action against Credit Suisse Group AG, regarding its misrepresentations of its trading limits and risk controls and resulting in accumulation of billions of dollars in extremely risky, highly illiquid investments, including the surreptitious accumulation of nearly $3 billion in distressed debt and U.S. collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”). On December 16, 2020, the court granted final approval of a $15.5 million settlement.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. International Business Machines Corp.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. International Business Machines Corp. (Crt. Common Pleas, Dauphin Cnty., Penn.): Cohen Milstein represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Labor and Industry in a breach of contract dispute against IBM related to the modernization of an unemployment compensation delivery system for the Commonwealth. On August 24, 2021, the parties announced, after extensive discovery and the exchange of expert reports, that they had reached a confidential settlement.
Converium/SCOR Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y./Netherlands)
In re Converium/SCOR Holding AG Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y./Netherlands): Cohen Milstein was Co-Lead Counsel in this first cross-border securities class action litigation of its kind settled on a Trans-Atlantic basis. On January 17, 2012, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal declared binding two international settlement agreements – an aggregate recovery of $58.4 million to a class of European and other non-U.S. investors who were excluded from participating in the U.S. securities class action against the Swiss reinsurer Converium Holding AG and Zurich Financial Services. The decision is significant for investors around the globe. These non-U.S. investors – who previously brought U.S. federal claims and were excluded from the U.S. action because they were not U.S. residents and because they purchased their shares on the Swiss Stock Exchange. Moreover, the Amsterdam Court’s decision confirmed that the Dutch Collective Settlement Act, which allow claimants to reach a collective settlement with a defendant or group of defendants, is available to a broad range of securities plaintiffs and corporate defendants-inside and outside the Netherlands-and that the Amsterdam Court is a pragmatic and investor-friendly forum.
Countrywide Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) Litigation
Countrywide Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) Litigation (C.D. Cal.): Cohen Milstein represented Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System (IPERS) and other plaintiffs in a securities class action against Countrywide Financial Corporation and others for misstatements and omissions involving the packaging and sale of mortgage-backed securities (MBS). On December 5, 2013, the court granted final approval to a landmark $500 million settlement – the nation’s largest MBS-federal securities class action settlement at the time and the largest (top 20) class action securities settlements of all time.
FirstEnergy Shareholder Derivative Litigation
FirstEnergy Shareholder Derivative Litigation (S.D. Ohio; N.D. Ohio): Cohen Milstein represented the Massachusetts Laborers Pension Fund in two shareholder derivative actions against certain officers and directors and nominal defendant FirstEnergy related to the Company’s involvement in Ohio’s largest public bribery schemes. On August 23, 2022, the Court granted final approval of a $180 million global settlement. Law360 ranked this case as one of the top 10 securities litigation settlements in 2022.
Harborview MBS Litigation
New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund, et al., v. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, PLC (S.D.N.Y.): Litigation gave rise to a $275 million settlement with Royal Bank of Scotland. Cohen Milstein was lead counsel in a complex case, in which presiding Judge Loretta A. Preska, of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, commented on the “job well done” by the Cohen Milstein team.