Berman Tabacco has been referred to as “one of the premier plaintiff
shops. "One
of the firm’s clients
testifies, “The team at Berman Tabacco are expert litigators. They keep me as their client well
informed of all developments in the cases where they
represent us. They
monitor our losses in securities
fraud cases and
advise us in connection with filing claims in foreign
jurisdictions.”
Peers are equally effusive in their praise; one speaks of the San Francisco office where the majority of its litigation stars are housed as, “sort of the ‘Bernstein Litowitz of the
West.’” While this comparison to one of the country’s other top securities class-action plaintiff shops is meant to be a flattering one, it is not entirely accurate, as Berman Tabacco also
operates out of a Boston office. And while Berman is engaged in its fair share of securities class actions, its reach is broader and more diverse; one peer
observes, “I am
actually seeing Berman Tabacco more in the antitrust space these days! They get in a decent amount of cases –
I think they are a fourth lead in a
Eurozone bonds case.”
This alluded to
case found name partner
Joseph Tabacco
teaming
up with
Todd Seaver, both in the San Francisco office, in a market-manipulation antitrust class-action seeking recovery for US investors and stemming from an alleged conspiracy to fix prices of sovereign debt denominated in euros and issued by multiple European central governments. To date, there have been two settlements reached in this action, with the latest one reached in November 2022. In late 2022, plaintiffs filed a separate complaint against new defendants Deutsche Bank and Rabobank, following the public assertion by the European Commission that those two banks were allegedly
involved in the alleged price-fixing conspiracy of European Government Bonds.
Lending
further weight to
the firm’s antitrust activity, Seaver provided counsel for Orange County Employees Retirement System, which alleges defendants conspired to manipulate the Australian Bank Bill Swap Reference Rate and the prices of derivatives during the class period and, as a result of defendants’ price-fixing conspiracy, they paid more or received less than they should have on their derivatives transactions.
The case
settled for a total of $186 million, which was approved by the
court in November 2022.
Seaver also was
retained by a multi-employer pension fund in another antitrust class action on behalf of end-payor plaintiffs in an MDL alleging a far-reaching conspiracy among more than a dozen drug manufacturers to fix the prices of more than 200 generic drugs. The court is
proceeding to schedule a bellwether trial involving two of these drugs, which is
anticipated to occur in late 2023 or early 2024.
In the securities space, the firm is continuing to evolve and expand into
areas, such as health, considered outside of its “usual” industries. The firm is also examining an increasing
amount of opt-out opportunities for its clients, in addition to the class-action work. A peer notes, “They are getting fewer settlements, but they are getting bigger ones!” San Francisco’s
Nicole Lavallee
is cheered by a client for her “communication, strategy and expertise in the field.” A peer notes, “I’m seeing her on more securities fraud cases, making motions for lead plaintiff.”
Lavallee and Boston-based
Patrick Egan secured a settlement in an action that was brought on behalf of investors in Healthcare Services Group, a provider of housekeeping and laundry services to hospitals and other healthcare service organizations. The action alleged that, over the course of several years, defendants issued materially false and misleading statements and
failed to
disclose “earnings management” practices that allowed Healthcare Services to consistently meet or beat earnings per share estimates that, in turn, caused the price of the company’s stock to be artificially inflated.
Further, the plaintiff alleged that the company
failed to
disclose details of an ongoing SEC investigation into the same allegations. After months of discovery and briefing on the plaintiff’s motion for class certification, the parties reached a settlement for $16.8 million, which was
granted final
approval in January 2022.
Settlement administration is ongoing.
