Christina D. Saler

Christina Donato Saler is a partner in Cohen Milstein's Securities Litigation & Investor Protection practice.

Ms. Saler represents clients in a broad range of securities, shareholder rights, and derivative actions as well as other complex litigation.  Ms. Saler also has substantial trial experience prosecuting First Amendment cases involving individual plaintiffs against media defendants. Annually, she has been named in Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers” list since 2021, and she has been recognized by Law & Politics and the publishers of Philadelphia Magazine as a Rising Star, as listed in the Super Lawyer’s publications (2011 – 2013).

Prior to joining Cohen Milstein in 2017, Ms. Saler was a securities class action litigator at a nationally recognized plaintiffs law firm, where she distinguished herself as a skilled litigator and trusted client counselor of public pension funds and other institutional investors.

Ms. Saler is currently involved in the following notable matters:

• In re EQT Corporation Securities Litigation (W.D. Pa.): Cohen Milstein is Co-Lead Counsel in this securities class action, in which Plaintiffs allege that EQT misrepresented the synergies and cost savings that could be expected to arise from EQT’s $6.7 billion merger with rival natural gas producer Rice Energy, and then concealed that EQT was suffering from undisclosed well collapses and skyrocketing costs after the merger closed.
• PBM State Investigations: Led by Ms. Saler, Cohen Milstein serves as Special Counsel to state Attorneys General throughout the United States in their investigation into the billing practices and fee structures of managed care organizations (MCOs) and PBMs in their delivery of services to state-funded health plans.  To date, Ms. Saler's work with Attorneys General has resulted In more than $900 million In recoveries on behalf of certain state's Medicaid programs.
• Ohio Highway Patrol Retirement System (HPRS) v. Express Scripts, Inc. (Franklin C.P., Ohio): Cohen Milstein serves as Special Counsel to the Ohio Attorney General In this breach of contract litigation alleging that Express Scripts, Inc. overcharged HPRS on the pharmaceutical claims that Express Scripts processed as HPRS' PBM.
• In Re Tintri, Inc. Securities Litigation (Sup. Crt., San Mateo County, Cal.): Cohen Milstein represents investors in this securities class action, alleging that Tintri made misstatements and omissions in in its IPO registration statement and prospectus.

Some of Ms. Saler’s recent successes include:

• Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC) v. OptumRx Administrative Services, LLC (Franklin C.P., Ohio): Led by Ms. Saler, Cohen Milstein served as Special Counsel to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in breach of contract litigation against OptumRx Administrative Services, LLC for its allegedly overcharging BWC on certain pharmaceutical claims that OptumRx processed as BWC's PBM. On October 28, 2022, OptumRx agreed to pay the State of Ohio $15 million to settle the litigation.
• Ohio Department of Administrative Services - PBM Investigation: Led by Ms. Saler, Cohen Milstein served as Special Counsel to the Ohio Attorney General's Office in an Investigation of the Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) services that OptumRx Administrative Services, LLC provided to the Ohio Department of Administrative Services.  The Investigation was resolved by $7 million settlement on June 6, 2022.
• Ohio Department of Medicaid v. Centene, Corp. (Franklin C.P., Ohio): Led by Ms. Saler, Cohen Milstein served as Special Counsel to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in this litigation. On June 14, 2021, the Ohio Attorney General announced a $88.3 million settlement with Centene Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiaries for their alleged role in not only breaching contractual and fiduciary obligations to the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM), but also defrauding ODM out of millions of dollars through an elaborate scheme with pharmacy benefit subcontractors to maximize company profits at the expense of the ODM and millions of Ohioans who rely on Medicaid.
• Eric Weiner v. Tivity Health, Inc. (M.D. Tenn.): Cohen Milstein was Class Counsel, representing Class Representative Oklahoma Firefighters’ Pension and Retirement System and other purchasers of Tivity Health stock in a putative securities class action for Exchange Act violations related to Tivity’s misleading the public about its relationship with United Healthcare, Inc. On October 7, 2021, the Court granted final approval of a $7.5 million settlement. Ms. Saler managed all aspects of the litigation.
• In re Woodbridge Investments Litigation (C.D. Cal.): Cohen Milstein is a part of the executive leadership team in a consolidated securities class action against Comerica Bank for violating California statutory law and breaching its fiduciary duties by aiding and abetting an elaborate multi-billion-dollar Ponzi-scheme fraud committed by Robert H. Shapiro and the Woodbridge Group of Companies, a real estate investment company that transacted the scheme through Comerica bank accounts. On September 3, 2021, the Court granted preliminary approval of a $54.2 million settlement between Woodbridge investors and Comerica Bank.

In addition to her litigation work, Ms. Saler also advises Cohen Milstein’s clients on regulatory trends and legal decisions that may impact the management of their funds. In this capacity, she is the editor of the Shareholder Advocate, a quarterly publication focused on legal issues relevant to public and Taft-Hartley pension funds and the institutional investor community.

In 2017, Governor Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania appointed Ms. Saler to the Board of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, whose mission is to find ways of using the humanities to help people take action for positive change in their lives and communities, and to demonstrate this effectiveness to leaders and organizations invested in making Pennsylvania a better place to live. Ms. Saler is a member of the Executive Committee and Chairs the Government Advocacy Committee.

Ms. Saler is also a volunteer at Philadelphia Volunteer Indigence Program (VIP), where she represents individuals in jeopardy of losing their homes in the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court’s Mortgage Foreclosure Program.

Ms. Saler received her B.A. from Fairfield University. She received her J.D., with honors, from Rutgers University Law School. In addition to other academic honors, Ms. Saler was selected for the Rutgers Law Journal and served as the Lead Articles Editor. She is also the author of “Pennsylvania Law Should No Longer Allow a Parent’s Right to Testamentary Freedom to Outweigh the Dependent Child’s ‘Absolute Right to Child Support,’” 34 Rutgers Law Journal, 235 (Fall 2002).

Ms. Saler’s professional career began in advertising. She was a Senior Account Executive with the Tierney Agency, where she managed various advertising campaigns and Verizon’s contractual relationship with its spokesperson, James Earl Jones.