Representing the Fresno County Employees’ Retirement Association and the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System as lead plaintiffs, the firm negotiated a cash settlement of $300 million in the case against the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. The settlement is the largest by a drug company in a U.S. securities fraud case.

As co-lead counsel representing the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System, the firm has reached a memorandum of understanding with El Paso Corporation to pay $285 million to settle securities fraud claims, including $12 million from auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers. The court granted final approval of the settlement in March 2007.

Representing a group of diamond resellers, Berman DeValerio reached a settlement of $295 million against De Beers, the world’s largest diamond supplier, on March 31, 2006. De Beers also agreed to adhere to a broad federal antitrust injunction as part of the class action settlement. The court granted final approval of the settlement in June 2008.

Berman DeValerio obtained a $139 million partial settlement in the lawsuit against  Symbol Technologies, Inc. The firm represented co-lead plaintiff the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees Retirement System. In a separate lawsuit against Symbol’s former auditor, Deloitte & Touche LLP, a settlement of $24 million was approved by the court on September 12, 2006.

As co-lead counsel in the Lernout & Hauspie case, Berman DeValerio negotiated one of the largest securities settlement ever paid by accounting firms – a $115 million agreement with the U.S. and Belgian affiliates of KPMG International to settle claims of accounting malpractice. The case stemmed from KPMG’s work for Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, a software company driven into bankruptcy by a fraud scandal. The firm also reached an additional settlement worth $5.27 million with certain of Lernout & Hauspie’s former top officers and directors. In the related Quaak case, the firm has also negotiated a $60 million settlement with Dexia Bank Belgium to settle claims stemming from the bank's alleged role in the fraudulent scheme at Lernout & Hauspie. The Dexia settlement was granted final court approval in June 2007. This brings the total value of the settlements to more than $180 million.

Acting as co-lead counsel in a derivative action against Oracle Corporation, shareholders alleged that the company’s CEO, Lawrence J. Ellison, profited from illegal insider trading. The firm reached a settlement under which Mr. Ellison agreed to personally make charitable donations of $100 million in Oracle’s name and pay legal fees and expenses associated with the prosecution of the case. The lawsuit also resulted in important changes to Oracle’s insider trading policies.

As co-lead counsel representing individual plaintiffs against Philip Services, Berman DeValerio negotiated a total $79.5 million settlement with the bankrupt company’s former auditors, top officers, directors and underwriters. The case alleges that Philip Services and its top officers and directors made false and misleading statements regarding the company's publicly reported revenues, earnings, assets and liabilities. The court granted final approval of the settlements in March 2007.

As lead counsel representing the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System in the lawsuit against Reliant Energy, Inc., Berman DeValerio negotiated a $75 million cash settlement from the company and Deloitte & Touche LLP. A settlement agreement was approved in January 2006. 

Berman DeValerio acted as sole lead counsel in a case against Enterasys Networks, Inc., in which the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association was lead plaintiff. In 2003, the action settled for $50 million in stock and cash and major improvements to the company’s corporate governance, including the election of board members and the expansion of annual proxy disclosures.

In an antitrust class action against automobile manufacturers and dealer associations, Berman DeValerio has reached a partial settlement of the New Motor Vehicles Canadian Export Antitrust case with defendant Toyota Motor Sales for $35 million and changes to the company’s business practices to be in compliance with the Sherman Antitrust Act. The proposed partial settlement requires court approval.

Attorneys in the Florida office acted as sole lead counsel in In re UCAR International, an action in which the Florida State Board of Administration was lead plaintiff. That action settled for a $40 million cash payment and the right to appoint a new member to UCAR's board of directors — one of the few times that a securities class action settlement resulted in such significant corporate governance relief.

As co-lead counsel representing the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana as co-lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against SmartForce PLC, Berman DeValerio negotiated a $30.5 million partial settlement. The agreement received court approval in September 2004. The case is continuing against the company’s auditors, Ernst & Young Chartered Accountants and Ernst & Young, LLP.

Not all class actions end with settlements. The firm has extensive experience with jury trials. Over the years, our attorneys have gone to trial against pharmaceutical companies in New York and Boston, a health care products manufacturer in Florida, a railroad conglomerate in Delaware, one of the nation’s largest trustee banks in Philadelphia, a major food retailer in St. Louis, a high yield municipal bond fund in Wisconsin, and the top officers of a failed New England bank. Our attorneys took an environmental products company to trial in Philadelphia, and then successfully argued the case before a federal appeals court.