Litigation

Fairfax Financial Holdings, the largest insurance company in Canada, in recovering $31 million, including winning a jury verdict of $5.4 million in compensatory damages against hedge fund Exis Capital and a $5.5 million jury verdict in punitive damages against Exis Capital and two former executives in a New Jersey RICO case involving blatant insider trading, market manipulation and short selling attacks by hedge funds and investment firms.  Defendant Morgan Keegan settled with Fairfax for $20 million shortly before trial.  Fairfax secured additional prior settlements with other defendants.

MF Global Holdings, a former global financial derivatives broker, in a $3 billion lawsuit against its outside auditor, PwC, which settled during trial.

TPG in numerous matters, including multiple state and federal court actions concerning portfolio company Caesars Entertainment, and in obtaining injunctive relief against a former employee for breaching confidentiality obligations.

Federal Housing Finance Agency, as conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in actions in federal and state courts against numerous financial institutions and individuals.  The lawsuits sought rescission or damages from the banks for, among other things, their misrepresentations concerning pools of mortgage loans that underlie residential mortgage-backed securities the banks issued, securitized and sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  After prevailing on critical pre-trial issues, FHFA settled the actions brought by Kasowitz for over $2 billion, including a $1.25 billion settlement with Morgan Stanley.

MBIA, one of the world’s largest monoline insurers, in litigation brought by 18 of the world’s largest banks seeking to overturn MBIA’s corporate restructuring which, with the approval of the New York Department of Insurance, established a separate company for MBIA’s municipal bond insurance business. After a several-week evidentiary proceeding, the New York Supreme Court upheld MBIA’s restructuring, and MBIA received $1.7 billion in cash and a $500 million line of credit for its municipal bond insurance business.

Ford Motor Company in obtaining affirmative recoveries in connection with price-fixing, bid-rigging and customer allocation cartels involving more than 90 automotive parts suppliers, and impacted purchases in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and South America, described by the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice as its largest criminal antitrust investigation, resulting in nearly $3 billion in criminal fines.

Teva Pharmaceuticals, and its U.S. subsidiary Actavis, in defense of antitrust actions commenced by the State Attorneys General for 48 states, 28 civil antitrust class actions and multiple direct actions, consolidated in an MDL in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania that alleges price-fixing of over 100 generic drugs.

Comcast in the defense of a class action involving effectively three sub-classes – each consisting of approximately two million cable subscribers – alleging that Comcast violated antitrust monopolization laws through cable system “clustering” in the Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston areas.  The firm represented Comcast in a four-day class certification hearing for the Philadelphia area, resulting in a decision by the federal district court significantly limiting the issues for trial.  The court further limited issues on summary judgment.  In March 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Comcast in a landmark 5-4 decision that overturned the certification of the Philadelphia class.

Industrial manufacturers, including Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Tomen America, Transammonia, Trammochem, Transgrain Shipping, Grupo Celanese, Acetex Corporation, and Millennium Petrochemicals, in several international arbitrations arising from a parcel tanker price-fixing conspiracy.  Kasowitz’s clients alleged violation of the Sherman Act, as well as unfair competition claims.  These cases were resolved pursuant to confidential settlements.

Anderson News in an antitrust suit against leading magazine publishers and distributors, alleging that these companies conspired to boycott Anderson, a magazine wholesaler, and forced it out of business.

TPG and senior partners in bankruptcy proceedings and state and federal court actions concerning the principal operating subsidiary of TPG portfolio company Caesars Entertainment Operating Company, along with certain directors of Caesars’ parent company. The parties agreed to a Plan of Reorganization under which all potential claims against TPG, as well as the parent’s directors, were released.

Whitebox Advisors in Puerto Rico’s debt adjustment proceedings and related litigation against stakeholders and bond trustee.

Harbinger Capital in restructuring its $2 billion investment in LightSquared, including related litigation by Harbinger against Dish Network and the FCC.

J. Crew in defending claims by term lenders challenging certain strategic transactions involving J. Crew’s intellectual property and asserting intentional fraudulent conveyance claims.

Ad hoc group of SunEdison second lien lenders in the chapter 11 bankruptcy of SunEdison, once the fastest-growing U.S. renewable energy company, in asserting claims against, among others, SunEdison’s directors and officers in connection with the offering and solicitation of the second lien credit facility.

Saw Mill Capital in defense of claims for carried interest and other compensation by a former partner, resulting in a complete victory for Saw Mill Capital after a trial.

Douglas Elliman Realty in an FLSA and NY Labor Law action by a real estate sales agent, obtaining dismissal of such claims; and in defense of same-sex sexual harassment claim.

Northwell Health, one of the largest hospital systems in the U.S., in a lawsuit to enforce employment agreements, including covenants not to compete.

Elie Tahari, Ltd. in multiple litigations involving contract disputes.

The New York Post in defense of an employment discrimination and retaliation action brought by two former reporters arising out of the newspaper’s publication of a political cartoon that allegedly was offensive, in which we obtained summary judgment dismissing all claims.

Uber in securing dismissal of a patent infringement case alleging that Uber’s user application infringed Halio Technologies’ automated dispatch and payment system patent.

LG in a seven-patent infringement case involving USB chargers in the Eastern District of Texas. Plaintiff Fundamental Innovation Systems licensed the patents-in-suit from Blackberry, and assert infringement against several high-profile companies, including Huawei and ZTE.

Google in a significant and rarely achieved victory for patent action defendants involving a motion to transfer venue of Ryujin Fujinomaki vs. Google Inc., et al.from the Eastern District of Texas to the Northern District of California.  The decision also permitted Kasowitz clients Motorola, LG and ASUS to join in the motion.  The complaint in the action alleges that certain lock features, including Google’s Smart Lock feature, in defendants’ Android-based smartphones and wearables infringed Fujinomaki’s patent.  It is very rare for defendants like Google to win motions to transfer venue from Texas to California.

Mallinckrodt in a patent infringement matter involving Mallinckrodt’s patent for opioid painkiller Opana ER.  The District Court of Delaware upheld the validity of Mallinckrodt’s patent, rejecting arguments from Amneal Pharmaceuticals and Teva Pharmaceuticals.  Amneal and Teva defended their potential generics, alleging that prior art anticipated Mallinckrodt’s patent.  In his opinion, the judge found that neither a 1957 academic paper, nor a 2005 patent application, anticipated the process or product described in the patent.

Verizon in numerous patent infringement matters involving cellular communication hand-offs, cellular phone hotspot technology, data transmission protocols, network extender products, audio communication systems for computer networks and interactive media guides.

Teva Pharmaceuticals, an Israeli-based multinational pharmaceutical company, and its individual directors and officers in defense of one of the largest securities class actions in recent history as well as the more than 20 related direct actions, filed on behalf of more than 75 opt-out plaintiffs.  The class action was settled in 2022 within insurance limits.

TPG, a leading global alternative asset manager, in a dispute in the High Court of London relating to a bond default by Greek telecoms operator TIM Hellas that occurred years after TPG had sold its interests in Hellas to Weather Telecommunications. Bondholder claimants had asserted UK Insolvency Act claims for fraudulent trading and prejudicing creditors, alleging that TPG knew that the refinancing under which the bonds were issued would render the company insolvent.  On the fifth day of what was set for a six-week trial before the High Court of London, the bondholder claimants completely abandoned their claims against all of the TPG-related respondents.  TPG and the other defendants were collectively awarded approximately $10 million in costs.  In related litigation, Kasowitz obtained seven dismissals of claims against TPG in New York state and federal courts, affirmed on appeal to the New York Appellate Division and Second Circuit, respectively, including a sanctions award in favor of TPG.

Jho Low, an international businessman, in global legal matters arising out of the “1MDB” matter, which involve criminal charges and civil asset forfeiture proceedings brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), as well as additional legal action from authorities located in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and various other countries, involving several billions of USD in controversy. We have resisted ongoing forfeiture and confiscation efforts for several years, and engaged in counter-offensive litigation in the Cayman Islands and New Zealand to secure more favorable positioning for the family’s assets.

Select executives of Unaoil, a company operating in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, in providing a strategy to release and protect assets in the U.S., the UK, the Cayman Islands and several other offshore jurisdictions in light of a foreign bribery investigation being conducted by the DOJ and UK authorities. In a major victory, we helped secure an order from a court in an offshore jurisdiction allowing for the replacement of the trustee at the request of the trust settlor and the distribution of once frozen funds.

Pilgrim’s Pride, a multi-national food company, in resolving criminal claims relating to the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s high-profile investigation into alleged price fixing in the poultry industry.

Eros International, a leading Bollywood film producer, in the dismissal, with prejudice, of all securities fraud claims asserted on behalf of a putative class of shareholders.  Following a coordinated attack by short sellers, Eros International’s share price had declined over 75%, prompting a wave of putative securities class actions.

TPG, one of the world’s largest private equity funds, in a series of cases relating to a €1.5 billion recapitalization of a Greek telecom company, alleging that the recapitalization was, among other things, a fraudulent conveyance under NY, UK and Luxembourg law with alleged damages in excess of $1 billion.

Comcast, the largest broadcasting cable television company in the world, in securing a dismissal of the largest claim ever filed for disgorgement of short-swing profits pursuant to Section 16(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  The decision was affirmed by the Second Circuit, a major victory for Comcast.

U.S. Bank and HSBC Bank USA, as trustees of numerous residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) trusts that lost billions of dollars after the financial crisis.  Building off of our representation of the Federal Housing Finance Administration, Kasowitz has been the market leader in RMBS putback litigation ever since the pervasive nature of the low-quality mortgage loans underlying private-label RMBS first became exposed. With actions against Deutsche Bank, Nomura, Morgan Stanley and others, Kasowitz has both litigated the main cases – including the NY Court of Appeals’ ACE 2006-SL2 decision and the First Department’s NHELI decision now pending before the Court of Appeals – and represented trustee plaintiffs in the largest number of cases in the consolidated Part 60 proceedings.

ACA Financial Guaranty, a bond insurer, in its $120 million fraud suit against Goldman and hedge fund Paulson & Co. for fraudulently inducing ACA to issue a financial guaranty for Goldman’s ABACUS CDO by deceiving ACA about Paulson’s role and financial interest in the transaction.  Kasowitz successfully argued the case before the New York Court of Appeals, creating precedent on the standards for reliance in fraud actions under New York law.

The State of Hawaii in an action alleging fraud, False Claims Act violations and other claims against technology firm Ciber and its insurers stemming from an implementation of Oracle software for the State’s Department of Transportation, resulting in a $31 million recovery, exceeding the $7 million Hawaii paid to Ciber for the failed ERP project.

Copart in a four-week jury trial resulting in a $20 million verdict against Sparta Consulting and its parent, KPIT Infosystems, for fraud and professional negligence stemming from an implementation of SAP software.

Levi Strauss & Co. in an action against Deloitte Consulting stemming from an implementation of SAP’s apparel and footwear software.

Waste Management in an action alleging fraud and other claims against SAP stemming from an implementation of SAP’s waste and recycling software.

Bridgestone Americas in an action in Nashville federal court against IBM stemming from an implementation of SAP’s Order-to-Cash software and an IBM middleware product.

MF Global in representing the company in connection with investigations being pursued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), SEC and DOJ.

Successful representation of a major financial institution in an insider trading investigation by the SEC.

Hilton Worldwide in a civil action alleging trade secret misappropriation and other business torts brought by Starwood Hotels & Resorts.  This highly complex case, described by the media as “Grishamesque,” settled after approximately one year of discovery.

The former CEO of a major mutual fund in one of the highly publicized enforcement actions concerning market timing in mutual funds filed by the SEC and the New York Attorney General’s Office.

A founder of the Fairfield Greenwich Group, the largest of the so-called feeder funds, in connection with the highly publicized regulatory investigations and actions arising out of the Madoff Ponzi scheme. The firm has also represented other individuals in connection with regulatory investigations concerning the Madoff scheme.