Jan E. Messerschmidt is an associate in Cohen Milstein's Securities Litigation & Investor Protection practice, where he represents institutional and individual shareholders in derivative lawsuits and securities class actions.
Prior to joining Cohen Milstein, Mr. Messerschmidt was an associate at a highly regarded national litigation boutique, where he represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a range of issues involving antitrust, securities, cybersecurity, contract, personal tort, and malicious prosecution claims.
For his work, The National Law Journal named Mr. Messerschmidt one of its 2022 Elite Trial Lawyers “Rising Stars of the Plaintiffs Bar.”
Mr. Messerschmidt is involved in the following notable matters:
- IBEW Local 98 Pension Fund v. Deloitte (D.S.C.): Cohen Milstein is sole Lead Counsel in this putative securities class action against Deloitte entities for allegedly breaching its external auditor duties related to SCANA’s multi-billion-dollar nuclear energy expansion project in South Carolina.
- Pluralsight, Inc. Securities Litigation (D. Utah): Cohen Milstein is sole Lead Counsel in this securities class action, alleging that Pluralsight, a provider of cloud-based and video training courses, and its senior officers misrepresented and omitted material information from investors concerning the company’s sales force before a $37 million stock cash-out by Pluralsight insiders and in an over $450 million secondary public offering orchestrated by those insiders.
- El Paso Firemen & Policemen's Pension Fund, San Antonio Fire & Police Pension Fund, and Indiana Public Retirement System v. InnovAge Holding Corp, et. al. (D. CO.): Cohen Milstein is sole Lead Counsel in this securities class action, alleging that InnovAge "substantially failed" to “provide to its participants medically necessary items and services" as required by government regulation. As a result, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the State of Colorado suspended enrollment at InnovAge’s Colorado facilities. InnovAge's stock price declined 78% just nine months after its IPO, giving it the distinction of being one of 2021's five worst performing IPOs.
Mr. Messerschmidt’s recent successes include:
- Miller Energy/KPMG (E.D. Tenn.): Cohen Milstein was Co-Lead Counsel in this certified securities class action, alleging that KPMG failed to meet its obligation as the independent auditor of Miller Energy Resources, Inc., perpetrating a massive fraud by Miller Energy, including overstating the value of largely worthless oil reserves to more than $480 million. On July 12, 2022, the court granted final approval of a $35 million settlement.
- In re GreenSky Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein was Co-Lead Counsel in this putative securities class action against GreenSky, a financial technology company, for failing to disclose the substantial change in the composition of GreenSky’s merchant business mix and the resulting diminution in transaction-fee revenue, accounting for 87% of its overall revenue, as it moved from the solar panel energy merchant sector to the healthcare sector. On October 22, 2021, the court granted final approval of a $27.5 million settlement.
Before entering private practice, Mr. Messerschmidt served as a law clerk to the Honorable Beryl A. Howell, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He was also a law clerk to the Honorable Rosemary S. Pooler of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Mr. Messerschmidt earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from New York University, where he was the Co-Founder and Editor of Journal of Politics & International Affairs. He earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and received the Parker School Certificate for Achievement in International and Comparative Law. During law school, Mr. Messerschmidt had the distinction of participating in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (U.S. National Champions (2012, 2013)), and he was the Head Articles Editor for Columbia Journal of Transnational Law and the note author of, “Hackback: Permitting Retaliatory Hacking by Non-State Actors as Proportionate Countermeasures to Transboundary Cyberharm,” 52 COLUM. J. TRANSNAT’L L. 275 (2013)
Prior to law school, Mr. Messerschmidt was a legislative policy analyst for the New York City Council, Policy Division.
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