1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 LERACH COUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN & ROBBINS LL P LESLEY E. WEAVER (191305) ELIZABETH A . ACEVEDO (227347) 100 Pine Street, Suite 260 0 San Francisco , CA 94111 Telephone : 415/288-4545 415/288-4534 (fax ) - and - WILLIAM S . LERACH ( 68581) TOR GRONBORG (179109) JEFFREY D . LIGHT (159515) 401 B Street , Suite 1600 San Diego, CA 92101 Telephone : 619/231-1058 619/231-7423 (fax ) Lead Counsel for Plaintiffs UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNI A In re NASSDA CORPORATION SECURITIES LITIGATIO N This Document Relates To : ALL ACTIONS . Master File No . C-04-2942-S I CLASS ACTION DECLARATION OF JEFFREY D . LIGHT FILED ON BEHALF OF LERACH COUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN & ROBBINS LLP IN SUPPORT OF APPLICATION FOR AWARD OF ATTORNEYS' FEES AND REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES DATE : June 22, 200 5 TIME : 4 :00 p .m . COURTROOM : The Honorable Susan Illston
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LERACH COUGHLIN STOIA GELLERRUDMAN & ROBBINS LLP
LESLEY E. WEAVER (191305)ELIZABETH A. ACEVEDO (227347)100 Pine Street, Suite 260 0San Francisco , CA 94111Telephone : 415/288-4545415/288-4534 (fax)
- and -WILLIAM S . LERACH (68581)TOR GRONBORG (179109)JEFFREY D. LIGHT (159515)401 B Street, Suite 1600San Diego, CA 92101Telephone : 619/231-1058619/231-7423 (fax)
Lead Counsel for Plaintiffs
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNI A
In re NASSDA CORPORATIONSECURITIES LITIGATION
This Document Relates To :
ALL ACTIONS .
Master File No. C-04-2942-SI
CLASS ACTION
DECLARATION OF JEFFREY D . LIGHTFILED ON BEHALF OF LERACHCOUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN &ROBBINS LLP IN SUPPORT OFAPPLICATION FOR AWARD OFATTORNEYS' FEES ANDREIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES
DATE : June 22, 200 5TIME: 4:00 p .m .COURTROOM: The Honorable Susan Illston
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I, JEFFREY D . LIGHT, declare as follows :
1 . I am a member of the firm Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP . I
am submitting this declaration in support of my firm's application for an award of attorneys' fees in
connection with services rendered in the above-entitled action and the reimbursement of expenses
incurred by my firm in the course of this litigation.
2. This firm is Lead Counsel of record for plaintiffs .
3. The identification and background of my firm and its partners is attached hereto a s
Exhibit A .
4. My firm incurred a total of $31, 108 .05 in unreimbursed expenses in connection with
the prosecution of this litigation . They are broken down as follows :
EXPENSES
From Inception to May 9, 200 5
DISBURSEMENT TOTAL
Meals , Hotels & Transportation $ 5,394.09
Photocopies 5,369.00
Postage 425 .20
Telephone, Facsimile 981 .70
Messenger, Overnight Delivery 102.25-Filing, Witness & Other Fees 3,359.25
DECLARATION OF JEFFREY D . LIGHT IN SUPPORT OF APPLICATION FOR AWARDOF FEES AND REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES - C-04-2942-SI - 1 -
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5. The expenses incurred pertaining to this case are reflected in the books and records of
this firm. These books and records are prepared from expense vouchers and check records and are
an accurate record of the expenses incurred .
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing
is true and correct. Executed this 12th day of May, 2005, at San Diego, California .
- nA-,A a ""2 z,,,4JE REY D I T
S :\Settlement\Nassda .Set1DEC LCSGRR EXPENSES 00020992.doc
DECLARATION OF JEFFREY D . LIGHT IN SUPPORT OF APPLICATION FOR AWARDOF FEES AND REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES - C-04-2942-SI -2-
EXHIBIT A
LERACH COUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN & ROBBINS LLP
LERACH COUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN & ROBBINS LLP ("Lerach Coughlin") is a 150-lawyer law firmwith offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Boca Raton, Washington, D .C.,
Houston, Philadelphia and Seattle (www.lerachlaw.com) . Lerach Coughlin is actively engaged incomplex litigation, emphasizing securities, consumer, insurance, healthcare, human rights,employment discrimination and antitrust class actions . Lerach Coughlin's unparalleled experienceand capabilities in these fields are based upon the talents of its attorneys who have successfullyprosecuted thousands of class action lawsuits . As a result, Lerach Coughlin attorneys have beenresponsible for recoveries of more than $25 billion .
This successful track record stems from our experienced attorneys, including many who leftpartnerships at other firms or came to Lerach Coughlin from federal, state and local law enforcementand regulatory agencies, including dozens of former federal prosecutors . Lerach Coughlin alsoincludes more than 25 former federal (circuit and district) and state judicial clerks .
Lerach Coughlin currently represents more institutional investors in securities and corporate litigation- public and multi-employer funds - than any other firm in the United States .
William S . Lerach is widely recognized as one of the leading securities lawyers in the United States .Lerach founded the West Coast operations of Lerach Coughlin's predecessor firm - Milberg Weiss -almost 30 years ago. He has prosecuted hundreds of securities class and stockholder derivativeactions, resulting in recoveries of billions of dollars. Lerach and the firm are involved in many of thelargest and highest-profile securities suits in recent years, including Enron, Dynegy, AOL-TimeWarnerand WorldCom.
Patrick J. Coughlin has been lead counsel in several major securities matters, including In re Apple
Computer Securities Litigation, where he obtained a $100 million verdict. Prior to joining LerachCoughlin, Coughlin was a federal prosecutor in Washington, D .C. and San Diego handling complex
white collar fraud matters . He helped try one of the largest criminal RICO cases ever prosecuted by
the United States, United States v. Brown, as well as an infamous oil fraud scheme resulting in a
complex murder-for-hire trial, United States v. Boeckman. Coughlin now heads up the prosecution ofthe high profile HealthSouth and Qwest cases. Coughlin has handled and resolved a number of largesecurities cases involving such companies as 3Com, Boeing, IDB Communications Group, Unocal,Sybase, Connor, Media Vision, ADAC, Sunrise Medical, Valence, Sierra Tucson and Merisel . Inaddition, Coughlin spearheaded actions against the tobacco industry resulting in the phase-out of theJoe Camel Campaign and a $12 .5 billion recovery to the Cities and Counties of California - unique in
the nation .
John J . Stoia, Jr. has prosecuted numerous nationwide complex securities class actions, including In
re American Continental Corp ./Lincoln Savings & Loan Sec. Litig., MDL 834 (D. Ariz.), which arose outof the collapse of Lincoln Savings & Loan and Charles Keating's empire . Stoia was a major part of theplaintiffs' trial team which resulted in verdicts against Keating and his co-defendants in excess of $3
billion and recoveries of over $240 million . Stoia has been involved in over 40 nationwide classactions brought by policyholders against U .S. and Canadian life insurance companies seeking redressfor deceptive sales practices during the 1980s and 1990s, including, among others, Prudential, NewYork Life, Transamerica Life Insurance Company, General American Life Insurance Company,Manufacturer's Life, Metropolitan Life, American General, US Life, Allianz, Principal Life and Pacifi c
Life Insurance Company. Because of Stoia's efforts, victimized policyholders have recovered over $7billion. Stoia also successfully litigated numerous cases brought against life insurance companies forracial discrimination involving the sale of small value or "industrial life" insurance policies during the20th century, including serving as lead counsel in McNeil v. Am. Gen. Life Ins. and Accident Co ., thefirst major settlement involving discrimination claims ($234 million recovery). Stoia has since resolved
other race-based insurance cases, including Brown v. United Life Ins. Co., Morris v. Life Ins. Co. ofGeorgia and Thompson v. Metro. Life . In late summer 2004, Stoia filed the first complaint allegingkickbacks and rigged bidding in the insurance industry, and was hired by California InsuranceCommissioner John Garamendi to represent the citizens of California in suits alleging these practices .
Paul J . Geller has served as Lead or Co-Lead counsel in a majority of the securities class actions thathave been filed in the southeastern United States in the past several years, including cases againstHamilton Bancorp ($ 8.5 million); Prison Realty Trust; total combined recovery of over $120 million) ;Intermedia Corp. ($38 million) . Mr. Geller is currently one of the Court-appointed lead counsel incases involving the alleged manipulation of the asset value of some of the nations largest mutualfunds, including Hicks v. Morgan Stanley & Co ., Case No. 01 Civ. 10071 (S.D .N.Y.); Abrams v. VanKampen Funds, Inc., Case No. 01 C 7538 (N .D. III .) and In Re Eaton Vance Sec. Litig., Case No. C.A. No .01-10911 (D . Mass .) .
Mr. Geller has also successfully represented consumers in class-action litigation. He was personalcounsel to the lead plaintiff in Stoddard v. Advanta, a case that challenged the adequacies of interestrate disclosures by one of the nation's largest credit card companies ($11 million settlement) and waspersonal counsel to one of the lead plaintiffs in the American Family Publishers sweepstakeslitigation, which alleged that the defendant misled consumers into thinking they would win a lotteryif they purchased magazine subscriptions ($38 million settlement) .
Samuel H . Rudman served in the Enforcement Division of the United States Securities & ExchangeCommission in its New York Regional Office as a staff attorney, where he was responsible fornumerous investigations and prosecutions of violations of the federal securities laws . Thereafter, Mr.Rudman joined one of the largest corporate law firms in the country, where he represented publiccompanies in the defense of securities class actions and also handled several white collar criminaldefense matters.
In 1995, Mr. Rudman joined Milberg Weiss, where he was one of the youngest lawyers ever to bemade a partner at the firm and was responsible for the investigation and initiation of securities andshareholder class actions. In addition, Mr. Rudman developed an expertise in the area of leadplaintiff jurisprudence and has been responsible for numerous reported decisions in that area ofsecurities law .
Mr. Rudman continues to focus his practice in the area of investigating and initiating securities andshareholder class actions and also devotes a considerable amount of time to representing clients inongoing securities litigation.
Darren J . Robbins has extensive experience in federal and state securities litigation, serving as leadcounsel in the In re Dollar General Sec. Litig, In re Prison Realty Sec. Litig. and in re HanoverCompressor Sec. Litig . Robbins currently represents numerous pension funds in state and federalcourts across the country and specializes in the structuring of corporate governance enhancements inconnection with the resolution of shareholder class and derivative litigations . Robbins was recently
recognized as California Lawyer Attorney of the Year for 2003 as a result of his participation as leadcounsel in Hanover Compressor, where plaintiffs recovered approximately $85 million and obtainednumerous groundbreaking corporate governance changes, including direct shareholder nominationof Board members and the mandatory rotation of the company's outside audit firm .
PRACTICE AREAS AND CURRENT CASE S
Securities
As recent corporate scandals clearly demonstrate, it has become all-too-common for companies andtheir executives to manipulate the market price of their securities by misleading the public about thecompany's financial condition or prospects for the future . This misleading information has the effectof artificially inflating the price of the company's securities above their true values . When theunderlying truth is eventually revealed, the prices of these securities plummet, harming thoseinnocent investors who relied upon the company's misrepresentations .
Lerach Coughlin is the leader in the fight to provide investors with relief from corporate securitiesfraud. Lerach Coughlin utilizes a wide range of federal and state laws to provide investors withremedies, either by bringing a class action on behalf of all affected investors or, where appropriate,by bringing individual cases on behalf of large institutional investors .
The Firm's reputation for excellence has been repeatedly noted by courts and has resulted in theappointment of Lerach Coughlin attorneys to lead roles in hundreds of complex class action securitiesand other cases. In the securities area alone, the Firm's attorneys have been responsible for a numberof outstanding recoveries on behalf of investors which, in the aggregate, exceed $25 billion .Currently, Lerach Coughlin is lead or named counsel in approximately 500 securities class action orlarge institutional investor cases including :
• Enron Securities class action• AOL/Time Warner individual institutional investor private actions• Cisco Systems Securities class action• Coke Securities class action• Oracle Securities class action• WorldCom Bond individual institutional investor private actions
HealthSouth Securities class actio n
One of the reasons for Lerach Coughlin's dominance stems from the Firm's unparalleled dedication ofresources towards investor recovery . For example, the Firm has approximately 125 attorneysdedicated to investigating and prosecuting securities fraud class action and derivative cases on behalfof hundreds of institutional investors . In addition to ample human resources, Lerach Coughlin is alsowell capitalized to meet the demands of prosecuting complex cases .
Lerach Coughlin's securities department includes dozens of former federal and state prosecutors andtrial attorneys. The Firm's securities practice is also strengthened by the existence of a strongAppellate Department - whose collective work has resulted in numerous legal precedents . Thesecurities department also utilizes an extensive group of in-house experts, economic and damageanalysts, investigators and forensic accountants to aid in the prosecution of complex securities issues .
While obtaining recoveries for our clients is our primary focus, Lerach Coughlin attorneys have alsobeen at the forefront of securities fraud prevention . The Firm's prevention efforts are focused oncreating important changes in corporate governance either as part of the global settlements ofderivative and class cases or through court orders . Recent cases in which such changes were madeinclude: Pirelli Armstrong Tire Corp. Retiree Medical Benefits Trust v. Hanover Compressor Co., No. H-02-0410 (S.D. Tex.) (groundbreaking corporate governance changes obtained include : directshareholder nomination of two directors ; mandatory rotation of the outside audit firm ; two-thirds ofthe board required to be independent; audit and other key committees to be filled only byindependent directors; creation and appointment of lead independent director with authority to setup board meetings); In re Sprint Shareholder Litig., No. 00-CV-230077 (Circuit Ct . Jackson County,Mo.) (in connection with the settlement of a derivative action involving Sprint Corporation, thecompany adopted over 60 new corporate governance provisions which, among other things,established a truly independent Board of Directors and narrowly defines "independence" toeliminate cronyism between the board and top executives ; required outside board directors to meetat least twice a year without management present ; created an independent director who will holdthe authority to set the agenda, a power previously reserved for the CEO; and imposed new rules toprevent directors and officers from vesting their stock on an accelerated basis) ; Teachers'Ret. Sys. ofLouisiana v. Occidental Petroleum Corp., CV No. BC185009 (Cal . Super. Ct. 1998) (as part of thesettlement, corporate governance changes were made to the composition of the company's Board ofDirectors, the company's Nominating Committee, Compensation Committee and Audit Committee),and Barry v. E*Trade Group, Inc., No. CIV419804 (Cal . Super . Ct., San Mateo County) (in connectionwith settlement of derivative suit, excessive compensation of CEO eliminated (reduced salary from$800,000 to zero ; bonuses reduced and to be repaid if company restates earnings ; reduction of stockoption grant and elimination of future stock option grants) and important governance enhancementsobtained, including the appointment of a new unaffiliated outside director as chair of board'scompensation committee) . Through these efforts, Lerach Coughlin has been able to createsubstantial shareholder guarantees to prevent future securities fraud .
The firm works exclusively with noted corporate governance expert Robert Monks and his firm, LENSGovernance Advisors, to shape corporate governance remedies for the benefit of investors .
Lerach Coughlin stands at the forefront in protecting the rights of defrauded individuals in theinsurance and healthcare industries . The Firm is focused on stopping fraudulent and improper salespractices and recouping losses for victimized policyowners .
Lerach Coughlin attorneys have spearheaded dozens of cases against the life insurance industry onbehalf of policyowriers with permanent life insurance policies (including universal life, whole life, andinterest-sensitive whole life policies) and unfair and deceptive sales practices during the 1980s and1990s. These cases are based upon insurance companies misrepresenting how policies will performand whether premiums will "vanish ." Purchasers were victims of a "replacement" or "churning" salesscheme where they were convinced to use loans, partial surrenders or withdrawals of cash valuesfrom an existing permanent life insurance policy to purchase a new, less-valuable policy . Our lawyersare responsible for such groundbreaking decisions as In re Prudential Ins. Co. of Am. Sales PracticesLitig ., 962 F. Supp. 450 (D. N . J . 1997), In re Great S. Life Ins. Co. Sales Practices Litig., 192 F .R.D. 212(N .D. Tex . 2000) and Mass. Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Superior Court, 97 Cal . App. 4th 1282 (4th Dist. 2002) .To date, Lerach Coughlin attorneys have recouped over $7 billion on behalf of victimizedpolicyholders against the world's largest insurance companies, including Metropolitan Life,Prudential, Manulife, Principal Mutual, Pacific Life, Transamerica, Allianz and many others .
Lerach Coughlin attorneys have been at the forefront of discrimination cases against life insurancecompanies for their alleged practice of intentionally charging African-Americans and other minoritiesmore for life insurance . These lawsuits relate to the sale and administration of low face-amount lifeinsurance policies commonly known as "industrial," "burial," "home service" or "debit" policies .African-Americans and other minorities were allegedly charged more for the same level of lifeinsurance or were offered lower policy benefits than provided to Caucasians . Our attorneys haverecovered over $400 million for African-American and other minority class members as redress forthecivil rights abuses they were subjected to, including such landmark settlements as McNeil v. Am. Gen.Life & Acc. Ins. Co., No. 3-99-1157 (M.D. Tenn. 2000), Thompson v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 216 F .R.D. 55(S.D. N.Y. 2003), and Williams v. United Ins. Co. of Am., Civil Action No. 01-920 (Jefferson Cty . Ala .2002). Our lawyers are also responsible for important decisions in this area such as in re MonumentalLife Ins. Co., 343 F.3d 331 (5th Cir . 2003), Moore v. Liberty Nat'l Ins. Co., 267 F.3d 1209 (11th Cir . 2001)and Carnegie v. Mut. Sav. Life Ins. Co., No. CV-99-S-3292-NE, 2002 U .S. Dist . LEXIS 21396 (N .D. Ala .Nov. 1, 2002) .
Lerach Coughlin attorneys are actively involved in litigation against major, nationwide auto insurersfor alleged abuses in their claims-handling procedures. These cases challenge an alleged practice ofreplacing certain damaged automobile crash parts with cheaper, allegedly inferior, non-originalequipment manufacturer parts, known as imitation parts .
California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi recently retained Lerach Coughlin to representthe citizens of the state of California to assist in breaking up a long-standing pattern of illicit dealsand commissions paid by insurance companies to companies like Universal Life Resources ("ULR") andMarsh, who advanced the insurance companies' products while pretending to perform objectivebrokerage services for employers who hired them to assemble and place employee benefits . ULRimmediately entered into a consent decree, agreeing to stop the unlawful practices, fully disclose itsincome and commission arrangements, and to fully assist in the state of California's investigation intothese wide-spread practices .
Given their familiarity with the fraudulent and unfair business practices employed in the insuranceindustry, our attorneys are experts at rooting out facially neutral, yet discriminatory businessbehaviors . Our redlining cases seek to curb abuses in the underwriting practices used in determiningwhether to issue and at what price to charge minorities for homeowner and automobile insurancepolicies .
Antitrust
Lerach Coughlin 's antitrust practice focuses on representing plaintiffs in complex litigation, such assmall businesses and individuals who have been the victims of price -fixing , unfair trade practices, orother anticompetitive conduct . The firm has taken a leading role in many of the largest federal price-fixing and price discrimination cases throughout the United States .
For example, Lerach Coughlin attorneys played a lead role in In re NASDAQ Market-Makers AntitrustLitig., MDL 1023 (S .D.N.Y.), serving as court-appointed co-lead counsel for a class of investors . Theclass alleged that the NASDAQ market-makers set and maintained wide spreads pursuant to anindustry-wide conspiracy in one of the largest and most important antitrust cases in recent history .After three-and-one-half years of intense litigation, the case was settled for a total of $1 .027 billion,the largest antitrust settlement ever. An excerpt from the court's opinion reads :
Counsel for the Plaintiffs are preeminent in the field of class action litigation, and theroster of counsel forthe Defendants includes some of the largest, most successful andwell regarded law firms in the country . It is difficult to conceive of betterrepresentation than the parties to this action achieved .
See in re NASDAQ Market-Makers Antitrust Litig ., 187 F .R.D. 465, 474 (S.D.N.Y. 1998) .
One of the most significant opinions in the case was Judge Sweet's decision to certify the class ofmillions of investors over the strenuous objections of defendants . In re NASDAQ Market-MakersAntitrust Litig ., 169 F .R.D. 493 (S .D.N.Y. 1996) . Oral argument on behalf of plaintiffs on the classcertification motion was presented by Leonard B . Simon, Of Counsel to Lerach Coughlin .
Other cases include :
Hall v. NCAA (Restricted Earnings Coach Antitrust Litigation), No. 94-2392-KHV (D.Kan.). Lerach Coughlin attorneys served as lead counsel and lead trial counsel for oneof three classes of coaches who alleged that the National Collegiate AthleticAssociation illegally fixed their compensation by instituting the "restricted earningscoach" rule. On May 4,1998, the jury returned verdicts in favor of the three classes formore than $67 million . Trial counsel included the Firm's attorney Bonny E . Sweeney.
• In re Disposable Contact Lens Antitrust Litig., MDL 1030 (M.D. Fla .) . LerachCoughlin attorneys served as co-lead counsel for a class of contact lens wearers allegingthat the principal manufacturers of disposable contact lenses conspired with theleadership of the American Optometric Association and other eye care practitioners toboycott alternative channels of contact lens distribution, including pharmacies andmail order suppliers . The case settled for $89 million five weeks into a jury trial, shortlyafter plaintiffs' trial counsel, including Lerach Coughlin attorney Christopher M . Burke,defeated defendants' mot ion for a directed verdict .
Microsoft 1-V Cases, J .C .C.P . No. 4106 (San Francisco Super . Ct .) . Lerach Coughlinattorneys served on the executive committee in these consolidated cases, in whichCalifornia indirect purchasers challenged Microsoft's illegal exercise of monopolypower in the operating system, word processing and spreadsheet markets . In asettlement recently approved by the court, class counsel obtained an unprecedented$1 .1 billion worth of relief for the business and consumer class members whopurchased the Microsoft products.
Current cases include:
In re Currency Conversion Antitrust Litig., MDL 1409 (S .D.N .Y.) . Lerach Coughlinattorneys are co-lead counsel (with one other firm) in this multi-district litigation, inwhich a class of general purpose VISA and MasterCard cardholders allege that VISAand MasterCard, and certain leading member banks of Visa and MasterCard, conspiredto fix and maintain the foreign currency conversion fee charged to U .S. cardholders .Plaintiffs also allege that defendants failed to adequately disclose the fee in violationof federal law. Discovery continues, and the plaintiffs' motion for class certification isfully briefed .
Thomas & Thomas Rodmakers, Inc. v. Newport Adhesives and Composites, Inc(the Carbon Fiber Antitrust Litig.), No. CV-99-7796 (C .D . Cal .) . Lerach Coughlinattorneys are co-lead counsel (with one other firm) in this consolidated class action, inwhich a class of purchasers alleges that the major producers of carbon fiber fixed theprice of carbon fiber from 1993 to 1999. The trial court denied defendants' motions todismiss and granted plaintiffs' motion to certify the class, and the Ninth Circuit Courtof Appeals has rejected defendants' challenge to the court's class certification order .Discovery is continuing .
In re Carbon Black Antitrustlitig., MDL 1543 (D. Mass .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys
serve as co-lead counsel for a class of businesses that allege that the major producersof carbon black unlawfully conspired to fix the price of carbon black, which is used inthe manufacture of tires, rubber and plastic products, inks, and other products, from1999 through the present . The parties are currently engaged in discovery .
In re DRAM Antitrust Litig ., MDL 1486 (N .D . Cal .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys serveon the executive committee in this multi-district class action, in which a class ofpurchasers of high density low-cost-per-bit, random access memory chips, known asDRAM, allege that the leading manufactures of semiconductor products fixed the priceof DRAM from the fall of 2001 through at least the end of June 2002 . Lerach Coughlinattorneys took the lead in briefing and successfully opposing defendant's motion todismiss, which was denied . The parties are engaged in discovery .
In re Medical Waste Services Antitrust Litig ., MDL 1546 (D . Utah) . Lerach Coughlinattorneys are co-lead counsel in this multi-district antitrust class action litigationinvolving two separate cases . In the first (the Tri-State Class Action), plaintiffs allegedefendants illegally conspired to allocate customers and territories in the market forthe collection, transportation and disposal of medical waste in three mountain states .In the second case (the Stoll Action), the firm is co-lead counsel for a California class of
plaintiffs who allege that Stericycle, the largest provider of medical waste collectionand disposal services in the United States, unlawfully monopolized the market forthese services in California . Discovery is ongoing, and plaintiffs expect to move forcertification of the class in July 2004 .
In re Microsoft Antitrust Litig . Lerach Coughlin attorneys have served as leadcounsel, co-lead counsel and on the executive committees of more than 15 indirectpurchaser actions against Microsoft brought in both state and federal courts allegingMicrosoft illegally exercised its monopoly power in the operating system, wordprocessing and spreadsheet markets . Plaintiffs successfully defeated motions todismiss, challenges to class certification and motions for summary judgment in manystate cases. Plaintiffs also engaged in a massive discovery effort in order to defeatMicrosoft's challenges regarding its unlawful acts, and to prepare for trials in Californiaand Minnesota, both of which ultimately resolved before the cases reached a jury . Inmany states, the parties are currently in the process of finalizing settlements and/orachieving court approval in settlements which provide an unprecedented result forindirect purchaser class members .
The California Wholesale Electricity Antitrust Litig., 02-CV-990 (S .D. Cal .) . LerachCoughlin attorneys are co-lead counsel (with one other firm) in this litigation, whichalleges buyers and sellers in markets operated by the California Power Exchange andCalifornia ISO manipulated markets during the period May 1, 2000 to June 19, 2001 .The culmination of several years of litigation, review of company documents andinvestigation have led to the determination of widespread market manipulation of theCalifornia and Western energy markets during 2000 and 2001 . The findings show thetrading strategies and withholding of power, employed by Enron and othercompanies, were undertaken in an effort to manipulate the California energy marketwhich led to increased energy prices for consumers. Plaintiffs recently reached alandmark settlement in the litigation with the Williams Companies worth an estimated$400 million dollars . The case is currently before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appealsawaiting oral argument on several issues .
Consumer
The consumer attorneys at Lerach Coughlin represent plaintiffs nationwide in a variety of complexrepresentative and consumer class actions . Lerach Coughlin attorneys have taken a leading role inmany of the largest state and federal consumer fraud, human rights, environmental and publichealth, and tobacco-related cases throughout the United States . Lerach Coughlin is also activelyinvolved in numerous cases relating to the financial services industry, pursuing claims on behalf ofindividuals victimized by abusive mortgage lending practices, including violations of the Real EstateSettlement Procedures Act, 12 U .S.C. §2601 et seq., market timing violations in connection with thesale of mutual fund and variable annuities, and deceptive consumer-credit lending practices inviolation of the Truth In Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq .
Current cases include :
Cellphone Termination Fee Cases. Lerach Coughlin attorneys are co-lead counsel ina lawsuit against the six major wireless telephone service providers in California . The
plaintiffs allege that the early termination fee provisions in defendants' contracts areillegal penalties under California law, designed to unfairly tether consumers to long-term contracts and prevent customers from changing their wireless service providers .
Tenet Healthcare Cases . Lerach Coughlin attorneys are co-lead counsel in a classaction alleging a fraudulent scheme of corporate misconduct, resulting in theovercharging of uninsured patients by the Tenet chain of hospitals . The Firm's
attorneys represent uninsured patients of Tenet hospitals nationwide who wereovercharged by Tenet's admittedly "aggressive pricing strategy," that resulted in pricegouging of the uninsured .
Ocwen Financial Corporation . Lerach Coughlin attorneys represent plaintiffsalleging unfair business practices in Ocwen's servicing of residential mortgage loans .Plaintiffs claim that Ocwen has engaged in a scheme to charge vulnerable borrowersunwarranted and unlawful fees, including late penalty fees, fees associated withhazard insurance, attorneys' fees and fees associated with the unnecessary andwrongful preparation of default and foreclosure proceedings .
AT&T Wireless Coverage Maps . Lerach Coughlin attorneys represent consumers in aLos Angeles action that alleges false and misleading advertising by AT&T Wireless .Plaintiffs claim that AT&T Wireless's coverage maps are deceptive because they fail todisclose that defendants' service area is riddled with coverage gaps and holes .Plaintiffs seek injunctive relief from the court requiring AT&T Wireless to publishaccurate coverage maps indicating where consumers are actually able to place wirelesstelephone calls throughout the Los Angeles region .
Prior cases include :
Schwartz v. Visa . After years of litigation and a six month trial, Lerach Coughlinattorneys won one of the largest consumer protection verdicts ever awarded in theUnited States. In Schwartz v. Visa Int'l, et aL, No. 822404-4 (Cal . Super . Ct., AlamedaCounty), California consumers sued Visa and MasterCard for intentionally imposing andconcealing a fee from their cardholders. The court ordered Visa and MasterCard toreturn $800,000,000 in cardholder losses , which represented 100% of the amountillegally taken, plus 2% interest. In addition, the court ordered full disclosure of thehidden fee.
In re Lifescan, Inc. Consumer Litig., No. CV-98-20321-JF (N .D. Cal .) . Lerach Coughlinattorneys were responsible for achieving a $45 million all-cash settlement with Johnson& Johnson and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Lifescan, Inc ., over claims that Lifescandeceptively marketed and sold a defective blood-glucose monitoring system fordiabetics . The Lifescan settlement was noted by the district court for the NorthernDistrict of California as providing "exceptional results" for members of the class .
Human Rights, Labor Practices and Public Polic y
Lerach Coughlin attorneys have a long tradition of representing the victims of wrongdoing, rangingfrom unfair labor practices to violation of human rights . These include :
Does 1, et al. v. The Gap, Inc., et al., No. 01 0031 (D . Northern Mariana Islands) . Inthis ground-breaking case, Lerach Coughlin attorneys represented a class of 30,000garment workers who alleged that they had worked under sweatshop conditions ingarment factories in Saipan that produced clothing for top U .S. retailers such as TheGap, Target and J .C. Penney. In the first action of its kind, Lerach Coughlin attorneyspursued claims against the factories and the retailers alleging violations of RICO, theAlien Tort Claims Act and the Law of Nations based on the alleged systemic labor andhuman rights abuses occurring in Saipan . This case was a companion to two otheractions: Does 1, et al. v. Advance Textile Corp., et al., No. 99 0002 (D . NorthernMariana Islands) - which alleged overtime violations by the garment factories underthe Fair Labor Standards Act - and UNITE, et al. v. The Gap, Inc, et al., No. 300474(Cal . Super . Ct., San Francisco County), which alleged violations of California's UnfairPractices Law by the U.S. retailers . These actions resulted in a settlement ofapproximately $20 million that included a comprehensive Monitoring Program toaddress past violations by the factories and prevent future ones . The members of thelitigation team were honored as Trial Lawyers of the Year by the Trial Lawyers forPublic Justice in recognition of the team's efforts at bringing about the precedent-setting settlement of the actions.
Kasky v. Nike, Inc., 27 Cal . 4th 939 (2002), cert. dismissed, 539 U .S. 654 (2003) . TheCalifornia Supreme Court upheld claims that an apparel manufacturer misled thepublic regarding its exploitative labor practices, thereby violating California statutesprohibiting unfair competition and false advertising. The court rejected defensecontentions that any misconduct was protected by the First Amendment. The courtfound the heightened constitutional protection afforded to noncommercial speechwas inappropriate in such a circumstance .
The Cintas Litigation . Brought against one of the nation's largest commerciallaundries for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act for misclassifying truck driversas salesmen to avoid payment of overtime.
Shareholder derivative litigation brought by Lerach Coughlin also sometimes involves anti-unionactivities, including :
Southern Pacific/Overnite . A shareholder action stemming from several hundredmillion dollars in loss of value in the Company due to systematic violations by Overniteof U .S. labor laws.
Massey Energy. A shareholder action against an anti-union employer for flagrantviolations of environmental laws resulting in multi-million dollar penalties .
Crown Petro leum . A shareholder action against a Texas-based oil company for self-dealing and breach of fiduciary duty while also involved in a union lockout .
Lerach Coughlin attorneys also represented over 2,300 Taco Bell workers who were denied thousandsof hours of overtime pay because, among other reasons, they were improperly classified as overtimeexempt employees. Currently, the Firm's attorneys represent CINTAS workers with similar claims ofviolation of federal and state labor laws.
Lerach Coughlin attorneys have also represented plaintiffs in class actions related to environmentallaw. The Firm's attorneys represented, on a pro bono basis, the Sierra Club and the NationalEconomic Development and Law Center as amici curiae in a federal suit designed to uphold the stateand federal use of project labor agreements ("PLAs") . The suit represented a legal challenge toPresident Bush's Executive Order 13202, which prohibits the use of project labor agreements onconstruction projects receiving federal funds . Our Amici Brief in the matter outlined and stressed thesignificant environmental and socio-economic benefits associated with the use of PLAs on large scaleconstruction projects .
Attorneys with Lerach Coughlin have been involved in several other significant environmental casesincluding:
Public Citizen v. US DOT. Lerach Coughlin represented a coalition of labor,environmental, industry and public health organizations including Public Citizen, TheInternational Brotherhood of Teamsters, California AFL-CIO and California TruckingIndustry, in a challenge to a decision by the Bush Administration to lift acongressionally-imposed "moratorium" on cross border trucking from Mexico on thebasis that such trucks do not conform to emission controls under the Clean Air Act and,further, that the Administration did not first complete a comprehensive environmentalimpact analysis as required by the National Environmental Policy Act . The suit wasdismissed at the Supreme Court, the Court holding that because the DOT lackeddiscretion to prevent cross-border trucking, an environmental assessment was notrequired.
• Sierra Club v. AK Steel. Brought on behalf of the Sierra Club for massive emissions ofair and water pollution by a steel mill , including homes of workers living in theadjacent communities , in violation of the Federal Clean Air Act, RCRA and the CleanWater Act.
• MTBE Litigation . Brought on behalf of various water districts for befouling publicdrinking water with MTBE, a gasoline additive linked to cancer .
• Exxon Valdez. Brought on behalf of fisherman and of Alaska residents for billions ofdollars in damages resulting from the greatest oil spill in U .S. history .
• Avila Beach . A citizens suit against UNOCAL for leakage from the oil companypipeline so severe it literally destroyed the town of Avilla Beach, California .
Federal laws such as the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Resource Conservation and RecoveryAct and state laws such as California Proposition 65, exist to protect the environment and the publicfrom abuses by corporate and government organizations . Companies can be found liable fornegligence, trespass or intentional environmental damage and be forced to pay for reparations andto come into compliance with existing laws .
Prominent cases litigated by Lerach Coughlin attorneys include representing more than 4,000individuals suing for personal injury and property damage related to the Stringfellow Dump Site i n
Southern California, participation in the Exxon Valdez oil spill litigation, and the toxic spill arisingfrom a Southern Pacific train derailment near Dunsmuir, California .
The Fight Against Big Tobacco
Lerach Coughlin attorneys have led the fight against Big Tobacco since 1991 . As an example, LerachCoughlin attorneys filed the case that helped get rid of Joe Camel representing various public andprivate plaintiffs, including the State of Arkansas ; the general public in California ; the cities of San
Francisco, Los Angeles, and Birmingham; 14 counties in California; and the working men and women
of this country in the Union Pension and Welfare Fund cases that have been filed in 40 states . In1992, Lerach Coughlin attorneys filed the first case in the country that alleged a conspiracy by the BigTobacco companies.
Pro Bono
Lerach Coughlin attorneys have a long history of engaging in pro bono cases and have been recentlyrecognized for their demonstrated commitment to providing pro bono services to the poor anddisenfranchised . In 2003, Lerach Coughlin attorneys Eric Isaacson, Bonny Sweeney and Amber Eck(from the San Diego office of the then Milberg Weiss) were nominated for the prestigious 2003California State Bar President's Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year award, based in large part on their
efforts with the ACLU in Sanchez v. County of San Diego. The San Diego office received acommendation from the state bar president for its "dedication to the provision of pro bono legalservices to the poor and for the significant contribution [the firm] made to extending legal services tounderserved communities ." In recommending the firm for the award, Carl Poirot, of the San DiegoVolunteer Lawyer Program, praised the firm for its "extraordinary efforts" in the case, stating thatthe "legal team generously gave of their time in the vigorous representation of a class of individualswho clearly do not have the financial resources nor wherewithal to retain legal counsel . The County'squestionable conduct would have gone unchallenged but for the intervention" of the legal team .
Sanchez is a class action brought on behalf of welfare applicants against the County of San Diegoseeking an injunction requiring the County to discontinue its "Project 100%" program . Under Project
100%, investigators from the San Diego D .A.'s office, Public Assistance Fraud Division, enter andsearch the home of every person who applies for welfare benefits, even though there is no suspicionof fraud or wrongdoing - and despite the fact that every individual is required to undergo anextensive application process with numerous verifications . Plaintiffs contend that these searches bylaw-enforcement officers, performed without cause or suspicion, violate state and federal statutesand the Fourth Amendment of the U .S. Constitution .
The court certified a class of all present and future applicants for CalWORKs cash aid and food stampsin San Diego County who are subject to a search of their home under Project 100% . Defendants havesince admitted that the use of home visits to determine eligibility for food stamps violates Californiastate regulations and has agreed to settle these claims . Although defendants were granted summaryjudgment on the remaining claims, plaintiffs are currently in the process of filing an appeal with theNinth Circuit Court of Appeals and are optimistic about the prospects for success there . Due to thesubstantial number of hours dedicated to this important case, lead attorneys Eric Isaacson, BonnySweeney and Amber Eck were awarded the SDVLP Distinguished Service Award .
This San Diego office was also named as one of three finalists for the 1999 Pro Bono Law Firm of theYear award by the SDVLP, based in part for its work on the Badua v. City of San Diego case . Badua
was a case brought on behalf of Jenny Badua against the City of San Diego . After working for theCity for 15 years, she was placed on Long Term Disability ("LTD") leave due to severe manicdepression. Under the City's LTD Plan, which is similar to many other LTD plans, individuals withphysical disabilities receive benefits until age 65 or longer, but individuals with mental disabilitiesreceive benefits for only two years. We alleged that this differential treatment of persons withmental disabilities violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and federal and state disabilitynondiscrimination statutes. Unfortunately, after three years of working on the case, the Ninth CircuitCourt of Appeals issued an opinion upholding the constitutionality of an LTD plan nearly identical tothe one at issue, and plaintiffs settled the case for a nominal award to the plaintiff. However, theDisability Rights Education & Defense Fund ("DREDF") and the ACLU commended our efforts anddescribed this as one of the most important issues of the year .
Our co-counsel, Linda Kilb of the DREDF, said in recommending us for the award : "The talent, effortand commitment of [Lerach Coughlin attorneys have] been invaluable, and it is difficult to imaginehow the case could proceed without them . DREDF is enormously appreciative of [Lerach Coughlinattorneys'] continuing role in this case, and of SDVLP's assistance in finding us co-counsel of thiscaliber."
JUDICIAL COMMENDATION S
Lerach Coughlin attorneys, working under the former Milberg Weiss mantel, have been commendedby countless judges all over the country for the quality of representation in class action lawsuits .
When Judge Harmon appointed Lerach Coughlin attorneys as lead counsel for Enron securitiespurchasers, she commented :
In reviewing the extensive briefing submitted regarding the Lead Plaintiff/LeadCounsel selection, the Court has found that the submissions of [Lerach Coughlinattorneys] stand out in the breadth and depth of its research and insight .Furthermore, Mr . Lerach has justifiably "beat his own drum" in demonstrating the rolehis firm has played thus far in zealously prosecuting this litigation on Plaintiffs' behalf .
See in re Enron Corp . Sec. Litig., 206 F.R.D. 427, 458 (S.D . Tex . 2002) . More recently, in Stanley v.Safeskin Corp., No. 99 CV 454-BTM (S .D. Cal . May 25, 2004), where Lerach Coughlin obtained $55million for the class of investors, Judge Moskowitz stated :
I said this once before, and I'll say it again . I thought the way that your firm handledthis case was outstanding . This was not an easy case . It was a complicated case, andevery step of the way, I thought they did a very professional job .
In a November 9, 1998 order approving settlements totaling over $1 .027 billion, the court in Inre NASDAQ Market-Makers Antitrust Litig., 187 F .R.D. 465, 474 (S.D.N.Y. 1998), commented aboutLerach Coughlin attorneys including Len Simon that :
Counsel for the Plaintiffs are preeminent in the field of class action litigation, and theroster of counsel forthe Defendants includes some of the largest, most successful andwell regarded law firms in the country . It is difficult to conceive of betterrepresentation than the parties in this action achieved .
In Transamerica, Judge Danielson made it a point to comment on the professionalism ofLerach Coughlin attorneys :
It would be hard to imagine what question I could come up with that I haven't alreadyseen the information that I needed in the submissions that have been made to thisCourt. I can't remember anything so thoroughly and professionally handled in the 20-some odd years that I've been involved in the law. It is interesting to see law practicedhonorably . And I think all of the lawyers who have involved themselves in this case canbe very proud of their profession .
See Natal v. Transamerica Occidental Life Ins . Co., Hearing Transcript dated June 26, 1997, at 39 :3-12 .
Similarly, in Prudential, in approving the settlement of a nationwide class action against a lifeinsurer for deceptive sales practices, Judge Wolin observed :
[T]he results achieved by plaintiffs' counsel in this case in the face of significant legal,factual and logistical obstacles and formidable opposing counsel, are nothing short ofremarkable. . . . Finally, the standing and professional skill of plaintiffs' counsel, inparticular Co-Lead Counsel, is high and undoubtedly furthered their ability tonegotiate a valuable settlement and argue its merits before this Court . Severalmembers of plaintiffs' counsel are leading attorneys in the area of class actionlitigation .
See In re Prudential Ins. Co. of Am. Sales Practices Litig ., 962 F . Supp. 572, 585-86 (D .N.J . 1997),
vacated on other grounds, 148 F.3d 283 (3d Cir . 1998). Lerach Coughlin attorneys were co-lead
counsel in this litigation . At the Fairness Hearing in Prudential, Judge Wolin stated that "there is no
doubt that Class Counsel have prosecuted the interests of the class members with the utmost vigorand expertise." In re Prudential Ins. Co. of Am . Sales Practices Litig., 962 F. Supp. 450, 519 (D .N .J .
In approving a $100 million settlement in In re Prudential Securities Limited Partnerships Litig .,912 F . Supp. 97, 101 (S .D.N .Y. 1996), for which Lerach Coughlin attorneys, acting under the MilbergWeiss firm name, were partof the lead counsel, Judge Pollack noted that he had "the opportunity atfirst hand to observe the quality of plaintiffs' class counsel's representation, both here and in priorcomplex litigation, and [was] impressed with the quality of plaintiffs' class counsel ." In his opinion onclass certification, Judge Chesler elaborated that :
The firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, which is co-lead counsel for theplaintiff, was also counsel for the plaintiff class in the Prudential case. Thus, theadequacy of the plaintiff's representation is beyond reproach . Furthermore, thetremendous and unprecedented settlements which the Milberg firm has helped tosecure for the plaintiff classes in both this case and the Prudential case are a testamentto counsel's vigorous pursuit of the class interests .
See Roy v. The Independent Order of Foresters, Civ . No. 97-6225 (SRC), slip op . at 32 (D .N .J . Aug. 3,
1999) .
At the Settlement Hearing in the Chipcom litigation, for which Lerach Coughlin attorneyswere counsel, Judge Woodlock remarked :
[1]t seems to me that the level of legal services, the quality of legal services, theattention to the case on behalf of the plaintiffs, and ultimately plaintiffs' class, wasreally very high quality and ought to be recognized by an appropriately highpercentage figure here .
Of course, I disagree on the merits of the case . That is not, however, to say thatI disagree with the quality of the lawyering or disregarded the quality of the lawyeringor thought that the quality of the lawyering was not at the highest level . To thecontrary, I thought it was at the highest level and that ought also to be reflected here .
See Nappo v. Chipcom Corp., CA-95-11114-WD (D . Mass.), Settlement Hearing Transcript dated June26, 1997, at 13-14 .
NOTABLE CLIENTS
Public Fund Clients
• Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation .
• Alaska State Pension Investment Board .
• California Public Employees ' Retirement System.
• California State Teachers' Retirement System .
• City of Birmingham Retirement and Relief System (Ala.) .
• Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois , Illinois Municipal RetirementFund, Illinois State Board of Investment .
• Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) .
• Maine State Retirement System .
• The Mary land-National Capital Park & Planning Commission Employees' RetirementSystem.
• Milwaukee Employees' Retirement System.
• Minnesota State Board of Investment .
• New Hampshire Retirement System .
• Pompano Beach Police & Firefighters Reti rement System .
• The Regents of the University of California .
• State Universities Retirement System of Illinois .
PROMINENT CASES PROSECUTED BY LERACH COUGHLIN ATTORNEY S
• In re NASDAQ Market-Makers Antitrust Litig., MDL 1023 (S .D .N .Y.) . Lerach Coughlinattorneys served as court-appointed co-lead counsel for a class of investors. The class alleged that theNASDAQ market-makers set and maintained wide spreads pursuant to an industrywide conspiracy inone of the largest and most important antitrust cases in recent history. After three and one half
years of intense litigation, the case was settled for a total of $1 .027 billion, the largest antitrust
settlement ever . An excerpt from the court's opinion reads :
Counsel for the Plaintiffs are preeminent in the field of class action litigation, and the rosterof counsel for the Defendants includes some of the largest, most successful and well regardedlaw firms in the country . It is difficult to conceive of better representation than the parties tothis action achieved .
• In re American Continental Corp./Lincoln Sav. & Loan Sec. Litig., MDL 834 (D . Ariz .) .Lerach Coughlin attorneys served as the court-appointed co-lead counsel for a class of persons who
purchased debentures and/or stock in American Continental Corp ., the parent company of the nowinfamous Lincoln Savings & Loan . The suit charged Charles Keating, other insiders, three majoraccounting firms, three major law firms, Drexel Burnham, Michael Milken and others withracketeering and violations of securities laws . Recoveries totaled $240 million on $288 million in
losses . A jury also rendered verdicts of more than $1 billion against Keating and others .
• In re 3Com, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. C-97-21083-JW (N.D. Cal.). A hard-fought class actionalleging violations of the federal securities law violations in which Lerach Coughlin attorneys servedas lead counsel for the class and obtained a recovery totaling $259 million .
• Mangini v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co ., No. 939359 (Cal . Super. Ct ., San Francisco County) . In
this case R.J . Reynolds admitted "the Mangini action, and the way that it was vigorously litigated,was an early, significant and unique driver of the overall legal and social controversy regardingunderage smoking that led to the decision to phase out the Joe Camel Campaign . "
• Cordova v. Liggett Group, Inc, et al., No. 651824 (Cal . Super . Ct., San Diego County), and
People v. Philip Morris, Inc., et al., No. 980864 (Cal . Super. Ct., San Francisco County) . Lerach
Coughlin attorneys, as lead counsel in both these actions, played a key role in these cases which weresettled with the attorneys general global agreement with the tobacco industry bringing $26 billion tothe State of California as a whole and $12 .5 billion to the cities and counties within California .
• Does /, et al. v. The Gap, Inc., et al., No. 01 0031 (D. Northern Mariana Islands) . In thisground-breaking case, Lerach Coughlin attorneys represented a class of 30,000 garment workers whoalleged that they had worked under sweatshop conditions in garment factories in Saipan thatproduced clothing for top U .S. retailers such as The Gap, Target and J .C. Penney . In the first action ofits kind, Lerach Coughlin attorneys pursued claims against the factories and the retailers allegingviolations of RICO, the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Law of Nations based on the alleged systemiclabor and human rights abuses occurring in Saipan . This case was a companion to two other actions :Does I, et al, v. Advance Textile Corp., et al., No. 99 0002 (D . Northern Mariana Islands) - whichalleged overtime violations by the garment factories under the Fair Labor Standards Act - and UNITE,
et al. v. The Gap, Inc., et al., No. 300474 (Cal . Super . Ct., San Francisco County), which allegedviolations of California's Unfair Practices Law by the U .S. retailers . These actions resulted in asettlement of approximately $20 million that included a comprehensive Monitoring Program toaddress past violations by the factories and prevent future ones . The members of the litigation teamwere honored as Trial Lawyers of the Year by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice in recognition of theteam's efforts at bringing about the precedent-setting settlement of the actions .
• In re Exxon Valdez, No. A89 095 Civ. (D. Alaska), and In re Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Litig., 3AN 89 2533 (Alaska Super. Ct., 3d Jud. Dist .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys served on the Plaintiffs'Coordinating Committee and Plaintiffs' Law Committee in the massive litigation resulting from theExxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in March 1989 . A jury verdict of $5 billion was obtained and iscurrently on appeal .
• In re Washington Public Power Supply Sys. Sec. Litig., MDL 551 (D. Ariz .) . A massivelitigation in which Lerach Coughlin attorneys served as co-lead counsel for a class that obtainedrecoveries totaling $775 million after several months of trial .
• Hall v. NCAA (Restricted Earnings Coach Antitrust Litigation), No . 94-2392-KHV (D . Kan.) . Thefirm was lead counsel and lead trial counsel for one of three classes of coaches in consolidated pricefixing actions against the National Collegiate Athletic Association . On May 4, 1998, the jury returnedverdicts in favor of the three classes for more than $54 .5 million .
• Newman v. Stringfellow(Stringfellow Dump Site Litigation), No. 165994 MF (Cal . Super . Ct .,Riverside County) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys represented more than 4,000 individuals suing forpersonal injury and property damage arising from their claims that contact with the StringfellowDump Site may have caused them toxic poisoning . Recovery totaled approximately $109 million .
• In re Prison Realty Sec. Litig., No. 3 :99-0452 (M .D. Tenn .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys servedas lead counsel for the class obtaining a $105 million recovery .
• City of San Jose v. PaineWebber, No. C-84-20601(RFP) (N .D. Cal .) . Lerach Coughlinattorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of the City of San Jose to recover speculative trading losses fromits former auditors and 13 brokerage firms . In June 1990, following a six-month trial, the juryreturned a verdict for the City, awarding over $ 18 million in damages plus pre-judgment interest .The City also recovered an additional $12 million in settlements prior to and during the trial .
• Hicks v. Nationwide, No. 602469 (Cal . Super. Ct., San Diego County) . Lerach Coughlinattorneys represented a class of consumers alleging fraud involving military purchasers of lifeinsurance, in which a jury trial resulted in a full recovery for the class, plus punitive damages .
• In re Nat 'l Health Labs. Sec. Litig., No. CV-92-1949-RBB (S .D . Cal .) . Lerach Coughlinattorneys served as co-lead counsel and obtained a pretrial recovery of $64 million in this securitiesfraud class action .
• In re Informix Corp. Sec. Litig., No. C-97-1289-CRB (N .D. Cal .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneysserved as co-lead counsel for the class and obtained a recovery of $137 .5 million .
• In re Apple Computer Sec. Litig., No. C-84-20148(A)-JW (N .D. Cal .) . Lerach Coughlinattorneys served as lead counsel and after several years of litigation obtained a $100 million juryverdict in this securities fraud class action . The $100 million jury verdict was later upset on post-trialmotions, but the case was settled favorably to the class .
• In re Nat'l Medical Enterprises Sec. Litig., No. CV-91-5452-TJH (C.D. Cal .) . Lerach Coughlinattorneys served as co-lead counsel and recovered $60 .75 million in this securities fraud class action .
• In re Nucorp Energy Sec. Litig., MDL 514 (S.D. Cal .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys served as co-lead counsel in this consolidated class action and recovered $55 million .
• In re U.S. Financial Sec. Litig., MDL 161 (S .D. Cal .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys acted aschairman of the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee and achieved a pretrial recovery of over $50 million .
• Barr v. United Methodist Church, No. 404611 (Cal . Super . Ct., San Diego County) . LerachCoughlin attorneys served as lead and trial counsel in this class action on behalf of elderly personswho lost their life savings when a church-sponsored retirement home that had sold them prepaid life-care contracts went bankrupt . After four years of intensive litigation - three trips to the U .S .Supreme Court and five months of trial - plaintiffs obtained a settlement providing over $40 millionin benefits to the class members . In approving that settlement, Judge James Foucht praised the resultas "a most extraordinary accomplishment" and noted that it was the "product of the skill, effort anddetermination of plaintiffs' counsel . "
• Grobow v. Dingman (The Henley Group Litigation), No . 575076 (Cal . Super. Ct., San DiegoCounty) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys served as co-lead counsel and obtained $42 million derivativelyon behalf of The Henley Group, Inc .
• In re Itel Sec. Litig., No. C-79-2168A-RPA (N .D. Cal .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys served as co-lead counsel in this securities class action that recovered $40 million .
• In re Fin. Corp. of America , No. CV-84-6050-TJH(Bx) (C.D. Cal .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneysserved as co-lead counsel and obtained a recovery of $41 million .
• In re Oak Indus. Sec. Litig., No. 83-0537-G(M) (S .D. Cal .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys servedas co-lead counsel in this case and obtained a recovery of $33 million .
• In re Wickes Cos. Sec. Litig., MDL 513 (S .D . Cal .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys served as liaisoncounsel in this consolidated securities law class action that recovered $32 million .
• Weinberger v. Shumway (The Signal Companies, Inc.), No. 547586 (Cal . Super . Ct., San DiegoCounty) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys served as co-lead counsel in this derivative litigation challengingexecutive "golden parachute" contracts, and obtained a recovery of approximately $23 million .
• In re Seafirst Sec. Litig., No. C-83-771-R (W.D. Wash.) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys served asco-lead counsel in this class action and obtained a pretrial recovery of $13 .6 million .
• In re Waste Mgmt. Sec. Litig., No. 83-C2167 (N .D. III .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys served asco-lead counsel in this case and obtained a pretrial recovery of $11 .5 million .
• In re IDB Communications Group, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. CV-94-3618 (C.D . Cal .) . LerachCoughlin attorneys served as co-lead counsel in this case and obtained a pretrial recovery of $75million .
• In re Boeing Sec. Litig., No. C97-1715Z (W.D. Wash.). A securities class action in whichLerach Coughlin attorneys served as co-lead counsel for the class obtaining a recovery in the amountof $92.5 million .
• Thurber v. Mattel, Inc., eta/., No. CV-99-10368-MRP (C .D. Cal .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneysserved as chair of the Executive Committee of Plaintiffs' Counsel and obtained a recovery of $122million .
• In re Dollar General Sec. Litig., No. 3:01-0388 (M .D. Tenn.) . Lerach Coughlin attorneysserved as co-lead counsel and obtained a recovery of $172 .5 million .
• Pirelli Armstrong Tire Corp. Retiree Medical Benefits Trust v. Hanover CompressorCo., No. H-02-0410 (S .D. Tex .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys served as lead counsel and obtained arecovery of $85 million .
• In re Reliance Acceptance Group, Inc. Sec. Litig., MDL 1304 (D . Del .) . Lerach Coughlin
attorneys served as co-lead counsel and obtained a recove ry of $39 million .
• Schwartz v. Visa Int ' l, et al., No. 822404-4 (Cal . Super. Ct., Alameda County) . After years oflitigation and a six month trial, Lerach Coughlin attorneys won one of the largest consumerprotection verdicts ever awarded in the United States . Lerach Coughlin attorneys representedCalifornia consumers who sued Visa and MasterCard for intentionally imposing and concealing a feefrom their cardholders . The court ordered Visa and MasterCard to return $800,000,000 in cardholderlosses, which represented 100% of the amount illegally taken, plus 2% interest . In addition, the courtordered full disclosure of the hidden fee .
• Morris v. Lifescan, Inc., No . CV-98-20321-JF (N .D . Cal .) . Lerach Coughlin attorneys wereresponsible for achieving a $45 million all-cash settlement with Johnson & Johnson and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Lifescan, Inc ., over claims that Lifescan deceptively marketed and sold a defectiveblood-glucose monitoring system for diabetics . The Lifescan settlement was noted by the districtcourt for the Northern District of California as providing "exceptional results" for members of theclass .
• Thompson v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 216 F.R.D. 55 (S.D.N.Y. 2003). Lerach Coughlin attorneysserved as lead counsel and obtained $145 million for the class in a settlement involving racialdiscrimination claims in the sale of life insurance .
• In re Prudential Ins. Co. of Am . Sales Practices Litig., 962 F . Supp. 450 (D. N.J. 1997). Inone of the first cases of its kind, Lerach Coughlin attorneys obtained a settlement of over $1 .2 billionfor deceptive sales practices in connection with the sale of life insurance involving the "vanishingpremium" sales scheme .
Lerach Coughlin attorneys are consistent leaders in developing favorable law for defrauded investorsunder state and federal securities laws . The Firm's attorneys have represented individual andinstitutional plaintiffs in over 500 securities class actions, including many under the Private SecuritiesLitigation Reform Act of 1995 . In most of those cases, Lerach Coughlin has been appointed as lead orco-lead counsel by the Court . The Firm has also been at the forefront of shareholder rights inderivative and Mergers and Acquisitions litigation . Additionally, Lerach Coughlin attorneys areinvolved in complex litigation in such varied areas as abuses in the insurance industry, consumerprotection and antitrust litigation, civil and human rights, and tobacco litigation . The firm's lawyershave been responsible for establishing many important precedents, including :
Investor and Shareholder Rights
• No. 84 Employer-Teamster JointCouncil Pension Trust Fund v. Am. W.Holding Corp., 320 F.3d 920 (9th Cir. 2003) .America West is a landmark Ninth Circuitdecision holding that investors pleaded withparticularity facts raising a strong inference ofcorporate defendants' fraudulent intent underheightened pleading standards of the PrivateSecurities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 .
upheld investors' claims that securities-offeringdocuments were incomplete and misleading,reversing a district court order that hadapplied inappropriate pleading standards todismiss the case .
• Bryant v. Dupree, 252 F.3d 1161 (11thCir . 2001). The Eleventh Circuit held thatinvestors were entitled to amend theirsecurities-fraud complaint to reflect furtherdevelopments in the case, reversing a contrarydistrict court order.
• Pirraglia v. Novell, Inc., 339 F .3d 1182(10th Cir. 2003). In Pirraglia, the Tenth Circuitupheld investors' accounting-fraud claims,concluding that their complaint presentedwith particularity facts raising a stronginference of the defendants' fraudulent intent .
• Broudo v. Dura Pharm., Inc., 339 F.3d933 (9th Cir . 2003) . The Ninth Circuit upheldinvestors' securities-fraud claims, reaffirmingNinth Circuit law on loss causation, whichholds that investors suffer a loss when theypurchase securities at a price inflated by fraud .
• In re Cavanaugh, 306 F.3d 726 (9thCir. 2002). In Cavanaugh, the Ninth Circuitdisallowed judicial auctions to select leadplaintiffs in securities class actions, andprotected lead plaintiffs' right to select thelead counsel they desire to represent them .
• Lone Star Ladies Inv . Club v.Schlotzsky's, Inc., 238 F .3d 363 (5th Cir.2001) . In Lone Star Ladies, the Fifth Circuit
• Bryant v. Avado Brands, 187 F.3d1271 (11th Cir . 1999) . Interpreting the PrivateSecurities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, theEleventh Circuit held that its provisionrequiring investors to plead facts raising astrong inference of scienter does not abrogatethe principle that recklessness suffices toestablish liability for violations of §10 (b) of theSecurities Exchange Act of 1934.
• Berry v. Valence Tech., Inc., 175 F.3d699 (9th Cir. 1999) . The Ninth Circuit held thatnegative articles in the financial press do notcause the one-year "inquiry notice" statute oflimitations to run, and indicated possibleacceptance of an "actual knowledge" standardthat would greatly extend the statute oflimitations for victims of securities fraud .
• Hertzberg v. Dignity Partners, Inc.,191 F.3d 1076 (9th Cir. 1999) . The Ninth Circuitreversed dismissal of investors' claims thatsecurities-offering documents were misleading,
holding purchasers who bought shares in theaftermarket had standing to bring claimsunder the Securities Act of 1933 where amaterial fact is misstated or omitted from aregistration statement.
• StorMedia, Inc. v. Superior Court, 20Cal . 4th 449 (1999) . Interpreting the anti-manipulation provisions of California's statesecurities laws, the California Supreme Courtheld that a corporation engages in the offer orsale of securities when it maintains anemployee stock-option or stock-purchase plan,and thus may be liable under the statute fordisseminating false or misleading publicstatements.
• Diamond Multimedia Sys., Inc. v.Superior Court, 19 Cal . 4th 1036 (1999) . TheCalifornia Supreme Court held that theCalifornia state securities laws' broad anti-manipulation provisions provide a remedy forout-of-state investors damaged bymanipulative acts committed within the Stateof California .
• Cooper v. Pickett, 137 F.3d 616 (9thCir . 1998). Cooper is the leading Ninth Circuitprecedent on pleading accounting fraud withparticularity. The court held that plaintiffsstated claims against a company, itsindependent auditors and its underwriters, forengaging in a scheme to defraud involvingimproper revenue recognition .
• McGann v. Ernst & Young, 102 F.3d390 (9th Cir . 1996) . McGann is a leadingfederal appellate precedent interpretingSecurities Exchange Act of 1934 §10(b)'sprovision prohibiting manipulative ordeceptive conduct In connection with" thepurchase or sale of a security . The courtrejected contentions that auditors could not beliable for a recklessly misleading audit opinionif they directly participated in no securitiestransactions. Rather, an accounting firm issubject to liability if it prepares a fraudulent
audit report knowing that its client will includethe report in an SEC filing .
• Provenz v. Miller, 102 F .3d 1478 (9thCir . 1996). In Provenz, the Ninth Circuitreversed a district court's entry of summaryjudgment for defendants in an accounting-fraud case . The decision is a leading federalappellate precedent on the evidence requiredto prove fraudulent revenue recognition .
• Knapp v. Ernst & Whiney, 90 F.3d1431 (9th Cir. 1996). The Ninth Circuitaffirmed a jury verdict entered for stockpurchasers against a major accounting firm.
• Warshaw v. Xoma Corp., 74 F.3d 955(9th Cir. 1996) . Warshaw is a leading federalappellate precedent on pleading falsity insecurities class actions - sustaining allegationsthat a pharmaceutical company misledsecurities analysts and investors regarding theefficacy of a new drug and the likelihood ofFDA approval . The court also held that acompany may be liable to investors if it misledsecurities analysts.
• Gohler v. Wood, 919 P.2d 561 (Utah1996). The Utah Supreme Court held thatinvestors need not plead or prove "reliance"on false or misleading statements in order torecover under a state law prohibitingmisleading statements in connection with thesale of a security.
• Fecht v. Price Co., 70 F.3d 1078 (9thCir . 1995). Fecht is another leading precedenton pleading falsity with particularity. Itsustained allegations that a retail chain'spositive portrayal of its expansion programwas misleading in light of undisclosedproblems that caused the program to becurtailed. The Ninth Circuit held that investorsmay draw on contemporaneous conditions -such as disappointing results and losses in newstores -to explain why a company's optimisticstatements were false and misleading . It also
clarified the narrow scope of the so-called"bespeaks caution" defense.
• In re Software Toolworks Sec. Litig.,50 F.3d 615 (9th Cir. 1995). In Software
Toolworks, the Ninth Circuit reversed thesummary judgment entered for defendants,including a company and its top insiders,independent auditors and underwriters .Among other things, the court held thatauditors and underwriters could be liable fortheir role in drafting a misleading letter sentto the SEC on the corporate defendant'sattorneys' letterhead.
• In re Pac. Enters. Sec. Litig., 47 F.3d373 (9th Cir . 1995) . The Ninth Circuit approvedshareholders' settlement of a derivative suit asfair, reasonable, and adequate .
• Kaplan v. Rose, 49 F .3d 1363 (9th Cir .1994) . The court reversed entry of summaryjudgment for defendants because investorspresented sufficient evidence for a jury toconclude that a medical device did not work aswell as defendants claimed .
• In re Wells Fargo Sec. Litig., 12 F.3d922 (9th Cir . 1993) . Wells Fargo is a leadingfederal appellate decision on pleadingaccounting fraud, sustaining investors'allegations that a bank misrepresented theadequacy of its loan-loss reserves.
• Krangel v. Gen . Dynamics Corp., 968
F.2d 914 (9th Cir. 1992) . The Ninth Circuitdismissed defendants' appeal from a districtcourt's order upholding plaintiff investors'choice of forum by remanding the matter tothe state court.
• Colan v. Mesa Petroleum, Co., 951F.2d 1512 (9th Cir . 1991 ) . In a shareholderderivative action, the Ninth Circuit held thatexchange of common stock for debt securitieswas a "sale" subject to the Securities ExchangeAct of 1934's regulation of short-swing profits .
• In re Apple Computer Sec. Litig., 886F.2d 1109 (9th Cir . 1989). The Ninth Circuitreversed summary judgment for defendants,holding that investors could proceed to trial onclaims that a company's representations aboutits new disk drive were misleading becausethey failed to disclose serious technicalproblems.
• Blake v. Dierdorff, 856 F.2d 1365 (9thCir. 1988). The Ninth Circuit reversed a districtcourt's dismissal of claims for fraud broughtagainst a corporation's directors and itslawyers .
• Mosesian v. Pea t, Marwick, Mitchell& Co., 727 F.2d 873 (9th Cir. 1984) . The NinthCircuit upheld an investor's right to pursue aclass action against an accounting firm,adopting statute-of-limitation rules for §10(b)suits that are favorable to investors .
Insurance
• Dehoyos v. Allstate Corp., 345 F.3d290 (5th Cir. 2003), cert denied, 2004 U .S .LEXIS 3088 (Apr. 26, 2004) . The Fifth CircuitCourt of Appeals held that claims underfederal civil rights statutes involving the sale ofracially discriminatory insurance policies basedupon the use of credit scoring, did notinterfere with state insurance statutes orregulatory goals and were not preemptedunder the McCarran-Ferguson Act . Specifically,the appellate court affirmed the district court'sruling that the McCarran-Ferguson Act doesnot preempt civil-rights claims - under the CivilRights Act of 1866 and the Fair Housing Act -for racially discriminatory business practices inthe sale of automobile and homeownersinsurance. The U.S. Supreme Court recentlydenied defendants' petition for certiorari andplaintiffs can now proceed with theirchallenge of defendants' allegedlydiscriminatory credit-scoring system used inpricing of automobile and homeownersinsurance policies .
• In re Monumental Life Ins. Co., 345F.3d 408, (5th Cir. 2004) . The Fifth CircuitCourt of Appeals reversed a district court'sdenial of class certification in a case filed byAfrican-Americans seeking to remedy racially-discriminatory insurance practices . The FifthCircuit held that a monetary relief claim isviable in a Rule 23(b)(2) class if it flows directlyfrom liability to the class as a whole and iscapable of classwide "computation by meansof objective standards and not dependent inany significant way on the intangible,subjective differences of each class member'scircumstances ."
• Moore v. Liberty Nat'l Life Ins. Co.,267 F.3d 1209 (11th Cir . 2001). The EleventhCircuit affirmed the district court's denial ofthe defendant's motion for judgment on thepleadings, rejecting contentions that insurancepolicyholders' claims of racial discriminationwere barred by Alabama's common-lawdoctrine of repose . The Eleventh Circuit alsorejected the insurer's argument that theMcCarran-Ferguson Act mandated preemptionof plaintiffs' federal civil-rights claims under 42U.S.C. 01981 and 1982.
• Massachusetts Mutual Life Ins. Co.v. Superior Court, 97 Cal. App. 4th 1282(2002). The California Court of Appealaffirmed a trial court's order certifying a classin an action by purchasers of so-called"vanishing premium" life-insurance policieswho claimed violations of California'sconsumer-protection statutes. The court heldcommon issues predominate where plaintiffsallege a uniform failure to disclose materialinformation about policy dividend rates .
Consumer Protection
• Kasky v. Nike, Inc., 27 Cal. 4th 939(2002), cert. dismissed, 539 U .S. 654 (2003) .The California Supreme Court upheld claimsthat an apparel manufacturer misled thepublic regarding its exploitative laborpractices, thereby violating California statutes
prohibiting unfair competition and falseadvertising. The court rejected defensecontentions that such misconduct wasprotected by the First Amendment .
• West Corp. v. Superior Court, 116Cal . App. 4th 1167 (2004) . The California Courtof Appeal upheld the trial court's finding thatjurisdiction in California was appropriate overthe out-of-state corporate defendant whosetelemarketing was aimed at Californiaresidents. Exercise of jurisdiction was found tobe in keeping with considerations of fair playand substantial justice .
• Spielholz v. Superior Court, 86 Cal .App. 4th 1366 (2d Dist. 2001). The CaliforniaCourt of Appeal held that false advertisingclaims against a wireless communicationsprovider are not preempted by the FederalCommunications Act of 1934.
• Day v. AT & T Corp., 63 Cal . App. 4th325 (1998). The California Court of Appealheld that an action which seeks only to enjoinmisleading or deceptive practices in theadvertising of telephone rates does notimplicate the federal filed-rate doctrine, andcan proceed under Cal . Bus. & Prof. Code§§17200 and 17500. The court also held thatthe claims were not preempted by the FederalCommunications Act, that the California PublicUtilities Commission does not have exclusivejurisdiction, that the doctrine of primaryjurisdiction did not compel dismissal or stay ofthe action, and that the plaintiffs were notrequired to exhaust their administrativeremedies .
• Mangini v. R.J. Reynolds TobaccoCo., 7 Cal . 4th 1057 (1994) . The CaliforniaSupreme Court upheld allegations that acigarette manufacturer committed an unlawfulbusiness practice by targeting minors with itsadvertising. It flatly rejected themanufacturer's contention that the action waspreempted by federal cigarette labeling laws .
• Jordan v. Dep 't of Motor Vehicles,75 Cal . App. 4th 449 (1999) . The CaliforniaCourt of Appeal invalidated a non-residentvehicle "smog impact" fee imposed on out-of-state autos being registered for the first timein California, finding that the fee violated theInterstate Commerce Clause of the U .S .Constitution .
• Clothesrigger, Inc v. GTE Corp., 191Cal . App. 3d 605 (1987) . The California Courtof Appeal reversed the trial court's decisionrefusing to apply California law to the claimsof nonresident plaintiffs. In reversing thelower court's ruling, the court found thatCalifornia law may constitutionally apply tothe claims of proposed nationwide classmembers who are not residents of California,provided there are significant contacts to theclaims asserted by each member.
• Lazar v. Hertz Corp., 143 Cal . App. 3d128 (1983) . The California Court of Appealordered a consumer class certified, in anopinion that significantly broadens the right ofinjured consumers to bring class actions .
• Barr v. United Methodist Church, 90Cal . App. 3d 259 (1979) . The California Courtof Appeal rejected constitutional defenses toan action for civil fraud and breach of contractcommitted by religiously affiliated defendants .
Antitrust
• Law v.NCAA, 134F.3d 1010(10thCir.1998) . The Tenth Circuit upheld summaryjudgment on liability for plaintiffs in collegecoaches' antitrust action against the NationalCollegiate Athletic Association on the issue ofantitrust liability under §1 of the ShermanAntitrust Act, 15 U .S.C. §1(plaintiffssubsequently prevailed on a damages trial) . Italso upheld the district court's orderpermanently enjoining the NCAA fromenforcing the "restricted earnings coach" rule,through which NCAA member institutions
limited the salary of certain coaches to $12,000during the academic year.
• In re NASDAQ Market-MakersAntitrust Litig., 172 F.R.D . 119 (S.D .N .Y .1997) . In a case where plaintiffs alleged thatapproximately 30 NASDAQ market-makersengaged in a conspiracy to restrain oreliminate price competition, the district courtcertified a class of millions of investors -including institutional investors to berepresented by five public pension funds .
• In re Disposable Contact LensAntitrust Litig., 170 F.R.D. 524 (M.D. Fla .1996) . Plaintiff contact lens purchasers allegedthat defendant manufacturers conspired on anationwide basis to eliminate competition andmaintain artificially inflated prices forreplacement contact lenses. The district courtdenied defendant manufacturers' motion todismiss plaintiffs' Clayton Act claims andgranted their motion for class certification,finding that plaintiffs' vertical-conspiracyevidence was general to the class and provideda colorable method of proving impact on theclass at trial .
• In re Currency Conversion FeeAntitrust Litig., 265 F. Supp. 2d 385 (S .D.N.Y.2003) . In a case consolidating more than 20putative class actions, plaintiff credit-cardholders alleged that two credit-card networks,Visa and MasterCard, and their member banks,conspired to fix the foreign-currencyconversion fees they charged. The districtcourt found that plaintiffs pleaded factssufficient to permit the inference of anantitrust conspiracy, denying defendants'motion to dismiss the antitrust allegations .
• Pharmacare v. Caremark, 965 F. Supp .1411 (D. Haw. 1996). The district court denieddefendant's motion to dismiss plaintiffs'Robinson-Patman Act claim in a case where thelargest company in the alternate-site infusiontherapy industry had pleaded guilty to mailfraud for making improper payments to
physicians in exchange for their referrals ofpatients . Plaintiffs, defendant's competitors,alleged that they suffered injury as a result ofdefendant's agreements , which violated the
anti-kickback provisions of the Clayton Act,§2(c) as amended by the Robinson-Patman Act,15 U .S .C. §13(c) .
ADDITIONALLY, IN THE CONTEXT OF SHAREHOLDER DERIVATIVE ACTIONS , Lerach Coughlin attorneys havebeen at the forefront of protecting shareholders' investments by causing important changes incorporate governance as part of the global settlement of such cases . Three recent cases in which suchchanges were made include :
Teachers'Retirement Sys. of Louisiana v. Occidental Petroleum Corp., CV No. BC1 85009(Cal . Super. Ct.) (as part of the settlement, corporate governance changes were made to thecomposition of the company's board of directors, the company's nominating committee,compensation committee and audit committee) .
• In re Sprint Shareholder Litig., No. 00-CV-230077 (Circuit Ct . Jackson County, Mo.) (inconnection with the settlement of a derivative action involving Sprint Corporation, thecompany adopted over 60 new corporate governance provisions, which, among other things,established a truly independent Board of Directors and narrowly defines "independence" toeliminate cronyism between the board and top executives; required outside board directors tomeet at least twice a year without management present; created an independent directorwho will hold the authority to set the agenda, a power previously reserved for the CEO ; andimposed new rules to prevent directors and officers from vesting their stock on an acceleratedbasis) .
• Pirelli Armstrong Tire Corp . Retiree Medical Benefits Trust v. Hanover CompressorCo., No. H-02-0410 (S.D.Tex.) (groundbreaking corporate governance changes obtainedinclude: direct shareholder nomination of two directors; mandatory rotation of the outsideaudit firm; two-thirds of the board required to be independent, audit and other keycommittees to be filled only by independent directors; creation and appointment of leadindependent director with authority to set up board meetings) .
WILLIAM S. LERACH is widely recognized as oneof the leading securities lawyers in the UnitedStates. He has headed the prosecution ofhundreds of securities class and stockholderderivative actions resulting in recoveries fordefrauded shareholders amounting to billionsof dollars. Mr. Lerach has been the subject ofconsiderable media attention and is a frequentcommentator on securities and corporate law,as well as a frequent lecturer. He representsnumerous public and multi-employer pensionfunds in corporate securities matters .
He is the author of Plundering America: HowAmerican Investors Got Taken for Trillions byCorporate Insiders - The Rise of the New
Corporate Kleptocracy, 8 Stanford J. of Law,
Bus. and Fin . 1 (2002) ; Why Insiders Get Rich,and the Little Guy Loses, L .A. Times, Jan. 20,2002; The Chickens Have Come Home to Roost:How Wall Street, the Big Accounting Firms andCorporate Interests Chloroformed Congressand Cost America's Investors Trillions;Achieving Corporate GovernanceEnhancements Through Litigation, keynoteaddress to Council of Institutional Investorsspring meeting, Mar . 27, 2001 ; The PrivateSecurities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - 27Months Later: Securities Class Action LitigationUnder The Private Securities Litigation ReformAct's Brave New World, Washington U. L . Rev.,
Vol . 76, No. 2 (1998); An Alarming Decline Inthe Quality of Financial Reporting(unpublished paper presented to 7th AnnualBusinessWeek CFO Forum (June 1998) ; coauthor of Civil RICO in Shareholders SuitsInvolving Defense Contractors in Civil RICOPractice : Causes of Action, published by JohnWiley & Sons, Inc. (1991); The IncorporationTrap: How Delaware Has Destroyed CorporateGovernance (unpublished paper presented tothe Council of Institutional Investors (1990)) ;Securities Class Actions and DerivativeLitigations Involving Public Companies : APlaintiff's Perspective, ALI/ABI, Civil Practice
and Litigation in Federal and State Courts
(1985), ABA Fall Meeting (1985) and PLISecurities Litigation, Prosecution and DefenseStrategies (1985); Alternative Approaches forAwarding Attorneys' Fees in Federal CourtLitigation: It's Time to Unload the Lodestar(unpublished paper presented to the NinthCircuit Judicial Conference (1984)) ; ClassActionand Derivative Suits in the Aftermath ofControl Contests, Mergers and Acquisitions:Choice of Forum and Remedies;Attorney/Client Privilege in Class andDerivative Cases, ABA 1984 Annual Meeting(1984) ; Class Actions: Plaintiffs' Perspectives,Tactics and Problems, ALI/ABA, Civil Practiceand Litigation in Federal and State Courts(1984); Life After Huddleston : Streamliningand Simplification of the Securities ClassAction, 7 Class Action Reports 318 (1982) . He isalso the author of Termination of ClassActions: The Judicial Role, McGough & Lerach,33 U. Pitt L. Rev. 446 (1972) ; Class andDerivative Actions Under the Federal SecuritiesLaws (1980 Regents of the University ofCalifornia) .
Mr. Lerach is chief counsel in many of thelargest and highest profile securities classaction and corporate derivative suits in recentyears, including Enron, Dynegy, Qwest andWorldCom. He is listed in the "Best Lawyers inAmerica" and is a Master of the American Innsof Court . Mr. Lerach has been the President ofthe National Association of Securities andCommercial Lawyers (NASCAT), a nationalgroup of attorneys specializing in commercialand securities litigation. Mr. Lerach is amember of the Editorial Board of Class ActionReports, and frequently lectures on class andderivative actions, accountants' liability, andattorneys' fees, and has been a guest lecturerat Stanford University, University of Californiaat Los Angeles and San Diego, University ofPittsburgh, San Diego State University and atthe Council of Institutional Investors and theInternational Corporate Governance Network .He is also a member of the American Law
Institute faculty on Federal and State ClassAction Litigation.
Mr. Lerach received his Bachelor of Arts degreefrom the University of Pittsburgh in 1967 andhis Juris Doctor degree in 1970 where hegraduated second in his class, magna cumlaude, and was a member of the Order of theCoif. Mr. Lerach was admitted to thePennsylvania Bar in 1970 and to the CaliforniaBar in 1976. Mr. Lerach was a partner withPittsburgh firm Reed Smith Shaw & McClaybefore opening the West Coast office ofMilberg Weiss in 1976. Mr. Lerach served asCo-Chairman of Milberg Weiss and serves asChairman of Lerach Coughlin . He is a memberof the Pennsylvania and California BarAssociations and has been admitted to practicebefore numerous federal and state courts . Heis a member of the ABA Litigation Section'sCommittee on Class Actions and DerivativeSkills .
Mr. Lerach has testified before federal andstate legislative committees concerningcorporate governance and securities mattersand is frequently quoted in the national mediaregarding corporate issues .
Mr. Lerach was honored by President Clintonwho appointed him to be a member of theUnited States Holocaust Memorial Council .
PATRICK J . COUGHLIN has been lead counsel forseveral major securities matters including oneof the largest class action securities cases to goto trial, In re Apple Computer Sec. Litig., No. C-84-20148(A)-JW (N.D. Cal .) . Formerly, Mr.Coughlin was an Assistant U .S. Attorney inWashington, D.C. and San Diego handlingcomplex white collar fraud matters . Duringthis time Mr . Coughlin helped try one of thelargest criminal RICO cases ever prosecuted bythe United States, United States v. Brown, etal., 86-3056-SWR, as well as an infamous oilfraud scheme resulting in a complex murder-for-hire trial, United States v. Boeckman, etal .,87-0676-K. Mr. Coughlin has instructed on the
current state of securities class action litigationin light of U . S. Congressional action aimed atweakening U .S. securities laws .
While at Milberg Weiss, Mr . Coughlin handleda number of large securities cases involvingsuch companies as IDB Communications Group($75 million recovery); Unocal ($47 .5 millionrecovery); Media Vision ($25 million recovery) ;Boeing ($92.5 million recovery) ; SunriseMedical ($20 million recovery) ; Sybase ($28 .5million recovery); Conner Peripherals ($26million recovery) ; 3Com ($259 millionrecovery) . Mr. Coughlin also prosecuted anumber of actions against the tobacco industrywhich resulted in the phase-out of the JoeCamel Campaign and a $12.5 billion recoveryto the Cities and Counties of California . Mr.Coughlin's recent trials include a RICO caseagainst the tobacco industry (March 1999) andsecurities cases which went to trial againstWells Fargo (October 1999) and CaliforniaAmplifier (February 2000) .
JOHN J . STOIA, JR . received his Bachelor ofScience degree from the University of Tulsa in1983 . While working on his degree, Mr . Stoiawas elected President of the National PoliticalScience Honor Society and graduated withhighest honors . In 1986, Mr. Stoia received hisJuris Doctor degree from the University ofTulsa and graduated in the top of his class .
In 1987, Mr. Stoia graduated from theGeorgetown University Law Center inWashington, D .C., receiving his Masters of Lawin Securities Regulation. Thereafter, Mr . Stoiaserved as an enforcement attorney with theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, untiljoining Milberg Weiss . Mr. Stoia was a partnerwith Milberg Weiss until co-founding LerachCoughlin .
Mr. Stoia worked on numerous nationwidecomplex securities class actions, including in reAmerican Continental Corp ./Lincoln Savings &Loan Sec. Litig., MDL 834 (D . Ariz.), whicharose out of the collapse of Lincoln Savings &
Loan and Charles Keating's empire . Mr. Stoiawas a member of plaintiffs' trial team whichobtained verdicts against Mr . Keating and hisco-defendants in excess of $3 billion andsettlements of over $240 million .
Mr. Stoia was involved in over 40 nationwideclass actions brought by policyholders againstU.S. and Canadian life insurance companiesseeking redress for deceptive sales practicesduring the 1980s and 1990s. Mr. Stoia wasactively involved in cases against, amongothers, Prudential, New York Life,Transamerica Life Insurance Company, GeneralAmerican Life Insurance Company,Manufacturer's Life, Metropolitan Life,American General, US Life, Allianz, PrincipalLife and Pacific Life Insurance Company. Whileat Milberg Weiss, Mr. Stoia was appointed leadcounsel for plaintiffs and class members in alldeceptive sales practices cases in which MilbergWeiss was involved .
Mr. Stoia was also involved in numerous casesbrought against life insurance companies forracial discrimination involving the sale of smallvalue or "industrial life" insurance policiesduring the 20th century . Mr. Stoia was leadcounsel in McNeil, et al. v. American GeneralLife Insurance and Accident InsuranceCompany, the first major settlement involvingdiscrimination claims which resulted in a $234million recovery for class members . Mr. Stoiaresolved other race-based insurance cases,including Brown v. United Life InsuranceCompany ($40 million), Morris v. Life InsuranceCompany of Georgia ($55 million) andThompson v. Metropolitan Life ($145 million) .
Mr. Stoia currently represents numerous largeinstitutional investors who suffered hundredsof millions of dollars in losses as a result of themajor financial scandals, including WorldComand AOL-Time Warner.
Mr. Stoia is a frequent lecturer at ALI-ABA,Practicing Law Institute and American TrialLawyers Association seminars and conferences.
PAUL J . GELLER received his Bachelor of Sciencedegree in Psychology from the University ofFlorida, where he was a member of theUniversity Honors Program . Mr. Geller thenearned his Juris Doctor degree, with highesthonors, from Emory University School of Law .At Emory, Mr. Geller was an Editor of the LawReview, was inducted into the Order of theCoif legal honor society, and was awardedmultiple American Jurisprudence Book Awardsfor earning the highest grade in the school in adozen courses .
After spending several years representing bluechip companies in class action lawsuits at oneof the largest corporate defense firms in theworld, Mr. Geller was a founding partner andhead of the Boca Raton offices of the nationalclass action boutiques Cauley Geller Bowman &Rudman, LLP and Geller Rudman, PLLC. InJune 2004, through a merger of LerachCoughlin and Geller Rudman, PLLC, Mr . Gelleropened the Boca Raton, Florida office of theFirm.
In July 2002, Mr. Geller was named by theNational Law Journal as one of the nation's"40 Under 40" - an honor bestowed upon 40of the country's top young litigators . In July2003, Mr. Geller was featured in Florida Trendmagazine and the South Florida BusinessJournal as one of Florida's top lawyers.
Mr. Geller is rated AV by Ma rt indale Hubbell(the highest rating available ) and has served asLead or Co-Lead counsel in a majority of thesecurities class actions that have been filed inthe southeastern United States in the pastseveral years , including cases against HamiltonBancorp ($8.5 million sett lement), Prison RealtyTrust (Co-Lead Derivative Counsel ; totalcombined sett lement of over $120 million),and Intermedia Corporation ($38 millionsett lement) . Mr. Geller is currently one of thecourt-appointed Lead Counsel in casesinvolving the alleged manipulation of the assetvalue of some of the nations largest mutualfunds, including Hicks v. Morgan Stanley& Co. ,
Case No. 01 Civ. 10071 (S.D .N.Y.), Abrams v.Van Kampen Funds, Inc., Case No . 01 C 7538
(N.D. III .), and In re Eaton Vance SecuritiesLitigation, Case No. C.A. No. 01-10911 (D.
Mass.). Mr. Geller is also heavily involved incorporate governance litigation. For example,
Mr. Geller recently represented a shareholderof Applica, Inc who was concerned withallegedly reckless acquisitions made by thecompany. Mr. Geller and his partners secureda settlement that required Applica to establisha new independent acquisitions committeecharged with conducting due diligence andapproving future acquisitions, even thoughsuch a committee is not required by SECregulations . In another corporate governancelawsuit, Mr. Geller and his co-counselchallenged the independence of certainmembers of a special committee empaneled byOracle Corp. to look into certain stock salesmade by its Chairman and Chief Executive,Larry Ellison. After Delaware Chancery CourtVice Chancellor Leo E . Strine issued an orderagreeing that the special committee was"fraught with conflicts," the Wall StreetJournal called the decision "one of the mostfar-reaching ever on corporate governance ."
Mr. Geller has also successfully representedconsumers in class action litigation. He waspersonal counsel to the lead plaintiff inStoddard v. Advanta, a case that challengedthe adequacies of interest rate disclosures byone of the nation's largest credit cardcompanies ($11 million settlement) and waspersonal counsel to one of the lead plaintiffsin the American Family Publishers sweepstakeslitigation, which alleged that the defendantmisled consumers into thinking they wouldwin a lottery if they purchased magazinesubscriptions ($38 million settlement) .
During the past few years, several of Mr .Geller's cases have received regional andnational press coverage. Mr. Geller hasappeared on CNN's Headline News, CNN'sMoneyline with Lou Dobbs, ABC, NBC and FOXnetwork news programs. Mr. Geller is
regularly quoted in the financial press,including the New York Times, the Wall StreetJournal, the Washington Post and BusinessWeek .
Mr. Geller has been or is a member of theAssociation of Trial Lawyers of America, thePracticing Law Institute, the American BarAssociation, the Palm Beach County BarAssociation (former Member of Bar GrievanceCommittee) and the South Palm Beach CountyBar Association (former Co-Chair of Pro BonoCommittee) .
SAMUEL H. RUDMAN received his Bachelor ofArts degree in Political Science fromBinghamton University in 1989 and earned hisJuris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law Schoolin 1992. While at Brooklyn Law School, Mr .Rudman was a Dean's Merit Scholar and amember of the Brooklyn Journal ofInternational Law and the Moot Court HonorSociety.
Upon graduation from law school, Mr .Rudman joined the Enforcement Division ofthe United States Securities & ExchangeCommission in its New York Regional Office asa staff attorney. In his position as a staffattorney, Mr. Rudman was responsible fornumerous investigations and prosecutions ofviolations of the federal securities laws .Thereafter, Mr. Rudman joined one of thelargest corporate law firms in the country,where he represented public companies in thedefense of securities class actions and alsohandled several white collar criminal defensematters .
Shortly after the passage of the PrivateSecurities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Mr .Rudman joined the firm of Milberg Weiss,where he was one of the youngest lawyersever to be made a partner at the firm and wasresponsible for the investigation and initiationof securities and shareholder class actions. Inaddition, Mr. Rudman developed an expertisein the area of lead plaintiff jurisprudence an d
has been responsible for numerous reporteddecisions in that area of securities law.
Mr. Rudman continues to focus his practice inthe area of investigating and initiatingsecurities and shareholder class actions andalso devotes a considerable amount of time torepresenting clients in ongoing securitieslitigation.
DARREN J . ROBBINS received his Bachelor ofScience and Master of Arts degrees inEconomics from the University of SouthernCalifornia. Mr. Robbins received his JurisDoctor degree from Vanderbilt Law School,where he served as the Managing Editor of theVanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law .
Mr. Robbins oversees Lerach Coughlin 's mergerand acquisition practice . Mr. Robbins hasextensive experience in federal and statesecurities class action litigation . Mr. Robbinsserved as one of the lead counsel in the In rePrison Realty Sec. Litig. ($ 120+ millionrecove ry), In re Dollar General Sec. Litig.($172.5 million recovery) and Pirelli ArmstrongTire Corp. Retiree Medical Benefits Trust v.Hanover Compressor Co . ($85+ millionrecove ry) . Mr. Robbins currently representsinstitutional and individual investors insecurities actions in state and federal courtsacross the country, including The Regents ofthe University of California in the Enronlitigation and numerous public pension fundsin the WorldCom bond litigation.
Mr. Robbins is a frequent speaker atconferences and seminars concerning securitiesmatters and shareholder litigation across thecountry .
KEITH F . PARK graduated from the University ofCalifornia at Santa Barbara in 1968 and fromthe Hastings College of Law of the Universityof California in 1972.
Mr. Park is responsible for the recoveries inmore than 1,000 securities class actions,including actions involving : Dollar General($162 million recovery) ; Mattel ($122 millionrecovery); Prison Realty ($105 million recovery);Honeywell (in addition to the $100 millionrecovery, obtained Honeywell's agreement toadopt significant corporate governancechanges relating to compensation of seniorexecutives and directors, stock trading bydirectors, executive officers and keyemployees, internal and external auditfunctions, and financial reporting and boardindependence); Sprint (in addition to $50million recovery, obtained importantgovernance enhancements, including creationof "Lead Independent Director" and expensingof stock options); Hanover Compressor (on topof $85 million recovery, obtained the followinggovernance enhancements, among others :direct shareholder nomination of Board andmandatory rotation of audit firm); 3COM ($259million recovery); Chiron ($43 million recovery);MedPartners ($56 million recovery) ; NME($60.75 million recovery) ; and TCI ($26.5million recovery) .
He is admitted to practice in California andNew York . He is admitted to practice inCalifornia and New York.
HELEN J . HODGES received her Bachelor ofScience degree in accounting from OklahomaState University in 1979 . While attendingOklahoma State, Ms. Hodges obtained herprivate pilot's license and in 1980 was amember of Oklahoma State's flying team,which won top honors at the NationalIntercollegiate Flying Association competition .Ms. Hodges became a certified publicaccountant in 1982 and received her JurisDoctor degree from the University ofOklahoma in 1983, where she was the
Managing Editor of the Law Review . She wasadmitted to the State Bars of Oklahoma in1983 and California in 1987 .
Before partnership with Lerach Coughlin, Ms .Hodges was a partner with Milberg Weiss.Formerly, she was staff accountant with ArthurAndersen & Co . and served as the law clerk forthe Penn Square cases in the Western Districtof Oklahoma . Ms. Hodges has been involvedin numerous securities class actions, includingKnapp v. Gomez, Civ. No. 87-0067-H(M) (S .D.Cal .), in which a plaintiffs' verdict was returnedin a Rule 10b-5 class action ; National HealthLabs, which was settled for $64 million; andThurber v. Mattel, which was settled for $122million .
REED R. KATHREIN, prior to his partnership withLerach Coughlin, was partner of the SanFrancisco office of Milberg Weiss, which heopened in 1994 . For the past 15 years, he hasfocused his practice on complex and classaction litigation, principally involving securitiesor consumer fraud. He was lead counsel innumerous state as well as federal court actionsaround the country, including co-lead counselin the In re 3Com Sec. Litig. which settled for$259 million .
Mr. Kathrein publishes and lectures extensivelyin the fields of litigation, consumer andsecurities law, class actions, and internationallaw. He annually co-chairs the ExecutiveEnterprises program for corporate officers andcounsel entitled, "Dealing With Analysts andthe Press ." He has spoken to the American BarAssociation, the American Business TrialLawyers Association, the Consumer Attorneysof California, the Practicing Law Institute, theSecurities Law Institute, the National InvestorRelations Institute, state and local bar groups,private seminar organizations andcorporations. He testified before the SenateForeign Relations Committee on behalf of theAmerican Bar Association in favor of adviceand consent to ratification of treaties oninternational sales, arbitration, evidence and
service of process . He testified before theCalifornia Assembly and Senate Committees onY2K litigation, the unfair trade practice actand changes in the business judgment rule . Heactively fought the passage of the PrivateSecurities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 andthe Securities Litigation Uniform Standard Actof 1998. Most recently, he worked behind thescenes to shape the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of2002 on corporate responsibility andaccountability.
He served as chairman of the PrivateInternational Law Committee of the AmericanBar Association from 1984-1990, as a directorand officer of the International BusinessCounsel Mid-America from 1983-1988, wherehe also chaired the policy committee . He actedas an advisor to the U .S. State Department'sAdvisory Committee on Private InternationalLaw from 1984-1990 . He is a member of theexecutive committee of the NationalAssociation of Securities and Commercial LawAttorneys, and since 1998 has been a memberof the Board of Governors of the ConsumerAttorneys of California .
Formerly, Mr. Kathrein was a partner in theChicago law firm Arnstein & Lehr, where herepresented national and internationalcorporations in litigation involving antitrust,commercial, toxic tort, employment andproduct and public liability disputes. Mr.Kathrein graduated from the University ofMiami, in 1977, he received his Bachelor ofArts degree, cum laude . He served as Editor-in-Chief of the International Law Journal. Heis admitted to the Bar of the States of Illinois(1977), Florida (1978) and California (1989) .
ERIC ALAN ISAACSON received his A .B . summacum laude from Ohio University in 1982. Heearned his Juris Doctor with high honors fromthe Duke University School of Law in 1985 andwas elected to the Order of the Coif. Mr.Isaacson served as a Note and Comment Editorfor the Duke Law Journal, and in his third yearof law school became a member of the moot
court board. After graduation Mr. Isaacsonclerked for the Honorable J . Clifford Wallaceof the United States Court of Appeals for theNinth Circuit .
In 1986, Mr. Isaacson joined the litigationdepartment of O'Melveny & Myers, where hispractice included cases involving allegations oftrademark infringement, unfair businesspractices and securities fraud . He served as amember of the trial team that successfullyprosecuted a major trademark-infringementaction .
Prior to his partnership at Lerach Coughlin, Mr .Isaacson was a partner at Milberg Weiss, wherehe took part in prosecuting many securities-fraud class actions. He was a member of theplaintiffs' trial team in In re Apple ComputerSec. Litig., No. C 84-20198(A)-JW (N .D. Cal .), forexample .
Since the early 1990s, his practice has focusedon appellate matters in cases before theCalifornia Courts of Appeal, the CaliforniaSupreme Court, the United States Court ofAppeals and the United States Supreme Court .
See, e.g., Lone Star Ladies Investment Club v.Schlotzsky's Inc., 238 F.3d 363 (5th Cir . 2001) ;Hertzberg v. Dignity Partners, Inc., 191 F.3d1076 (9th Cir . 1999); Warshaw v. Xoma Corp.,74 F.3d 955 (9th Cir . 1996) ; Fecht v. Price Co.,70 F.3d 1078 (9th Cir. 1995); Mangini v. R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Co., 7 Cal . 4th 1057 (1994) .
Mr. Isaacson's publications include : "PleadingScienter Under Section 21 D(b)(2) of theSecurities Exchange Act of 1934: Motive,Opportunity, Recklessness and the PrivateSecurities Litigation Reform Act of 1995" (co-authored with William S. Lerach), 33 San DiegoLaw Review 893 (1996); "Securities ClassActions in the United States" (co-authoredwith Patrick J . Coughlin), in William G . Horton& Gerhard Wegen, editors, Litigation Issues inthe Distribution of Securities: An InternationalPerspective 399 (Kluwer
International/International Bar Association,
1997); "Pleading Standards Under the PrivateSecurities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 : TheCentral District of California's ChantalDecision" (co-authored with Alan Schulman &Jennifer Wells), Class Action & Derivative Suits,Summer 1996, at 14; "Commencing LitigationUnder the Private Securities Litigation ReformAct of 1995" (co-authored with Patrick J .Coughlin), in Jay B . Kasner & Bruce G . Vanyo,editors, Securities Litigation 1990' 9-22(Practising Law Institute 1996) ; "The FlagBurning Issue : A Legal Analysis and Comment,"23 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 535(1990) .
Mr. Isaacson has received recognition for hispro bono work from the California Star Barand the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program .He has served as a member of the Board ofDirectors of the San Diego Foundation forChange since January of 2004 .
Mr. Isaacson has been a member of theCalifornia Bar since 1985. He also is admittedto practice before the United States SupremeCourt, the United States Courts of Appeals forthe Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh,Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits,and before all federal district courts in theState of California.
MARK SOLOMON is a partner at LerachCoughlin. Prior to joining Lerach Coughlin,Mr. Solomon was a partner at Milberg Weiss .He received his Juris Doctor degrees fromTrinity College, Cambridge University, England(1985), Harvard Law School (1986) and the Innsof Court School of Law, England (1987) . He isadmitted to the bars of England and Wales(Barrister), Ohio and California, as well as tovarious U .S. Federal District and AppellateCourts .
Before a ttending Trinity College in England,Mr. Solomon se rved as a British police officer .After qualifying as a barrister , and prior tojoining Milberg Weiss in September 1993, hepracticed at the international firm Jones Day
Reavis & Pogue in Cleveland, Ohio followed bypractice at the Los Angeles office of NewYork's Stroock & Stroock & Lavan . At thosefirms Mr. Solomon 's representations includedthe defense of securities fraud and otherwhite-collar crimes , antitrust, copyright,commercial and real estate litigation andreinsurance arbitration . While practicing inLos Angeles, Mr. Solomon took to trial, andwon, complex commercial contract and realestate actions in respectively , the OrangeCounty and Los Angeles Superior Courts .
Since 1993, Mr . Solomon has spearheaded theprosecution of many significant cases . He hasobtained substantial recoveries and judgmentsthrough settlement, summary adjudicationsand trial. He litigated, through trial, In reHelionetics, No. SACV-94-1069-AHS(EEx) (C .D.Cal .), where he and his trial partner, PaulHowes, won a unanimous $15 .4 million juryverdict in November 2000. He has led thelitigation of many other cases, among them Inre Informix Corp. Sec. Litig., No. C-97-1289-CRB(N.D. Cal .) ($142 million recovery); Rosen, etal.v. Macromedia, Inc., et al., No. 988526 (Cal .
Super. Ct., County of San Francisco) ($48million recovery) ; In re Community PsychiatricCenters Sec. Litig., No. SACV-91-533-AHS(EEx)
(C.D. Cal .) ($42.5 million recovery); In reAdvanced Micro Devices Sec. Litig ., No. C-93-20662-RPA(PVT) (N .D. Cal.) ($34 millionrecovery) ; In re Tele-Communications, Inc Sec.
Litig., No. 97CV421 (Arapahoe Dist . Ct. Colo .)($33 million recovery) ; In re Home Theater Sec.Litig., No. SACV-95-858-GLT(EEx) (C .D. Cal .)($22.5 million judgment); In re Gupta Corp.
Sec. Litig., No. C-94-1517-FMS (N .D. Cal .) ($15million recovery) ; In re Radius Sec. Litig ., No. C-92-20597-RPA(EAI) (N .D. Cal .) ; In re SuperMacTech., Inc. Sec. Litig., No. C-94-20206-RPA(PVT)(N.D. Cal .) (combined recovery of $14 million) ;Markus, et al. v. The North Face, et al ., No. 99-
2-473 (D .C. Colo.) ($12 .5 million recovery) ; In reBrothers Gourmet Coffees, Inc. Sec. Litig ., No.95-8584-CIV-Ryskamp (C.D. Fla.) ($9 millionrecovery) ; Anderson, et al. v. EFTC, et al., No.
98-CV-962 (County of Weld District Ct ., Colo.)
($9 million recovery); Sharma v. Insignia, No .CV757058 (Super . Ct., Santa Clara County) ($8million recovery) ; In re Medeva Sec. Litig ., No .93-4376-KN(AJWx) (C.D . Cal.) ($6.75 millionrecovery); In re Flir Sys. Inc. Sec. Litig ., No. CV-00-360-HA (D . Or.) ($6 million recovery); In reNike, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. CV-01-332-KI (D. Or.)($8.9 million recovery); Hayley, et al. v. Parker,et al., No. CV-02-9721-RGK(PLAx) (D .C. Cal .)($16 .4 million recovery) .
Mr. Solomon chaired the American BarAssociation Directors and Officers Liability Sub-Committee and the Accountants Liability Sub-Committee between 1996 and 2001 .
RANDM D. BANDMAN is a partner at LerachCoughlin whose responsibilities include themanagement of the Los Angeles office andinvolvement in the firm's Institutional InvestorDepartment. Ms. Bandman received her JurisDoctor degree from the University of SouthernCalifornia in 1989 and her Bachelor of Artsdegree in English from the University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles in 1986. Having beenassociated with the Lerach Coughlin lawyersfor more than 12 years, Ms. Bandman'spractice has focused on securities andconsumer class actions in both state andfederal court. She has representedshareholders of companies in industries asdiverse as aircraft manufacturing, batterytechnology, and computer software. Thesecases, which yielded significant recoveries forthe plaintiffs, were against such companies asNational Health Labs ($64 million); Sybase($28.5 million); Unocal ($47 .5 million); SunriseMedical ($20 million); Valence ($20 million) ;and Coeur d'Alene ($13 million). Ms. Bandmanwas responsible for running one of the largestclass actions in the country over a four-yearperiod against the Boeing Company whichsettled for more than $90 million. Ms.Bandman was also an early member of theteam that directed the prosecution of the casesagainst the tobacco companies .
Using her extensive experience in assertingclaims for injured investors, Ms. Bandmanlectures and advises union and public fundsboth domestically and internationally on theiroptions for seeking redress for losses due tofraud sustained in their pension portfolios .Ms. Bandman is currently interfacing withnumerous public and union funds includingthose workers for various States andMunicipalities, and the Entertainment Industry,as well as trades such as Sheetmetal,Construction, Airconditioning, Food andHospitality, Plumbers and Teamsters . Ms.Bandman is also representing shareholders in aclass action against Vivendi Universal forallegedly misrepresenting their financial crisisto investors while engaging in a multi-billiondollar acquisition spree .
Ms. Bandman has served as a lecturer onnumerous matters concerning securitieslitigation to attorneys for continuing legaleducation, as well as a panelist for thePracticing Law Institute .
THEODORE J . PINTAR received his Bachelor ofArts degree from the University of California atBerkeley in 1984 where he studied PoliticalEconomies of Industrial Societies. Mr. Pintarreceived his Juris Doctor degree from theUniversity of Utah College of Law in 1987where he was Note and Comment Editor ofthe Journal of Contemporary Law and theJournal of Energy Law and Policy . Formerly,Mr. Pintar was associated with the firm ofMcKenna, Conner & Cuneo in Los Angeles,California, where he specialized in commercialand government contracts defense litigation .Mr. Pintar is co-author of "Assuring CorporateCompliance with Federal Contract Laws andRegulations," Corporate Criminal LiabilityReporter, Vol . 2 (Spring 1988) .
Prior to partnership with Lerach Coughlin, Mr.Pintar was a partner with Milberg Weiss,where he worked for 14 years . Mr. Pintarparticipated in the successful prosecution ofnumerous securities fraud class actions and
derivative actions, including participation onthe trial team in Knapp v. Gomez, No. 87-0067-H(M) (S.D. Cal .), which resulted in a plaintiff'sverdict. Mr. Pintar also participated in thesuccessful prosecution of numerous consumerclass actions, including (i) actions against majorlife insurance companies such as Manulife($555 million settlement value) and PrincipalLife Insurance Company ($379 millionsettlement value), (ii) actions against majorhomeowners insurance companies such asAllstate ($50 million settlement) andPrudential Property and Casualty Co. ($7million settlement), and (iii) actions againstColumbia House ($55 million settlement value)and BMG ($10 million settlement value), adirect marketer of CDs and cassettes .
Mr. Pintar is a member of the State Bar ofCalifornia and the San Diego County BarAssociation .
Joy ANN BULL received her Juris Doctor degree,magna cum laude, from the University of SanDiego in 1988. She was a member of theUniversity of San Diego National TrialCompetition Team and San Diego Law Review.Ms. Bull focuses on the litigation of complexsecurities and consumer class actions . For nineyears, Ms. Bull has specialized in negotiatingand documenting complex settlementagreements and obtaining the required courtapproval of the settlements and payment ofattorneys' fees. These settlements include : Inre Dole Shareholders' Litig., No. BC281949 (Cal .Super . Ct., Los Angeles County) ($172 millionrecovery plus injunctive relief) ; Lindmark v.American Express, No. 00-8658-JFW(CWx) (C.D .Cal .) ($38 million cash payment plus injunctiverelief); In re Disposable Contact Lens AntitrustLitig ., MDL 1030 (M.D. Fla .) (cash and benefitspackage over $90 million plus injunctive relief);In re LifeScan, Inc. Consumer Litig ., No. C-98-20321-JF(EAI) (N .D. Cal.) ($45 million cashrecovery) ; In re Bergen Brunswig Corp. Sec.Litig., No. SACV-99-1305-AHS(ANx) (C .D. Cal .)($27.9 million cash recovery) ; Hall v. NCAA, No .94-2392-KHV (D. Kan.) ($54.4 million cash
recovery) ; In re Glen IvyResorts, Inc., No. SD92-16083MG (Banker . Ct. C.D. Cal.) ($31 millioncash recovery); and In re Advanced MicroDevices Sec. Litig., No . C-93-20662-RPA(PVT)(N.D . Cal .) ($34 million cash recovery) .
BONNY E. SWEENEY received her Bachelor ofArts degree from Whittier College in 1981 anda Master of Arts degree from CornellUniversity in 1985 . She graduated summa cumlaude from Case Western Reserve UniversitySchool of Law in 1988, where she served as aneditor of the Law Review and was elected tothe Order of the Coif.
Ms. Sweeney was with Milberg Weiss for eightyears and was a partner prior to herpartnership with Lerach Coughlin . Formerly,she practiced in the Litigation Department ofthe Boston law firm of Foley, Hoag & Eliot .Ms. Sweeney specializes in antitrust and unfaircompetition litigation. Ms. Sweeneyparticipated in the prosecution of severalantitrust and unfair competition cases thathave resulted in significant settlements,including In re NASDAQ Market-MakersAntitrust Litig., MDL 1023 (S.D.N.Y.), whichsettled for $1 .027 billion in 1997, the largestantitrust settlement ever; In re Airline TicketComm'n Antitrust Litig ., MDL 1058 (D. Minn.),which settled for more than $85 million in1996; and In re LifeScan, Inc. Consumer Litig.,No. C-98-20321-JF(EAI) (N .D. Cal.), whichsettled just before trial for $45 million . Ms.Sweeney was also one of the trial counsel for aclass of coaches in Hall v. NCAA, No. 94-2392-KHV (D. Kan .), an antitrust class action thatresulted in a $67 million jury verdict in threeconsolidated cases after a three-week trial .
Ms. Sweeney has served on the ExecutiveCommittee of the Antitrust and UnfairCompetition Law Section of the CaliforniaState Bar since 2002, and is currently Vice Chairof Antitrust Programs . She also lectures onCalifornia's Unfair Competition Law andantitrust topics . In 2003, Ms. Sweeney was arecipient of the Wiley M . Manuel Pro Bono
Services Award and the San Diego VolunteerLawyer Program Distinguished Service Award .
Ms. Sweeney is admitted to practice inCalifornia and Massachusetts, and is a memberof the Antitrust Section of the American BarAssociation, the Antitrust and UnfairCompetition Section of the California BarAssociation and the San Diego County BarAssociation .
Travis E. DOWNS 111 received his Bachelor ofArts degree in History, cum laude, fromWhitworth College in 1985, and received hisJuris Doctor degree from University ofWashington School of Law in 1990 . Mr. Downsspecializes in securities class actions andshareholders' derivative actions . Formerly apartner with Milberg Weiss, he was responsiblefor the prosecution and recovery of significantsettlements in the following cases : In reInformix Corp. Sec. Litig., No. C-97-1289-CRB(N .D. Cal .) ($137.5 million recovery); In reMP3.com, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 00-CV-1873-K(NLS) (S .D . Cal .) ($36 million recovery) ; In reConner Peripherals, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. C-95-2244-MHP (N.D. Cal .) ($26 million recovery); Inre Silicon Graphics, Inc. Il Sec. Litig., No. 97-4362-SI (N .D. Cal .) ($20.3 million recovery); Inre J.D. Edwards Sec. Litig., No. 99-N-1744 (D.Colo.) ($15 million recovery); In re Sony Corp.Sec. Litig., No. CV-96-1326-JGD(JGx) (C .D. Cal .)($12.5 million recovery); In re VeterinaryCenters of America, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 97-4244-CBM(MCx) (C.D. Cal.) ($6.75 millionrecovery) ; In re JDN Realty Corp. DerivativeLitig., No. 00-CV-1853 (N .D. Ga.) (obtainedextensive corporate governanceenhancements); In re HollywoodEntertainment Corp. Sec. Litig., No. 95-1926-MA (D. Or .) ($15 million recovery); In re LegatoSys., Inc. Derivative Litig., No. 413050 (Cal .Super. Ct., San Mateo Cty .) (obtained extensivecorporate governance enhancements) ; In reF/agstar Companies, Inc. Derivative Litig., No.736748-7 (Cal . Super. Ct., Alameda County)(obtained extensive corporate governanceenhancements). Mr. Downs is a member of th e
Bar of the State of California and is alsoadmitted to practice before the district courtsof the Central, Northern and Southern Districtsof California . He is also a member of theAmerican Bar Association and the San DiegoCounty Bar Association . Mr. Downs lecturesand participates in professional educationprograms.
ALBERT H. MEYERHOFF has specialized for morethan 30 years in labor, civil rights andenvironmental law. After graduating fromCornell Law School in 1972, he joinedCalifornia Rural Legal Assistance representingfarm workers and the rural poor . These effortsincluded the landmark case of CARP v. Regentsof the University of California, challenging theuse of public research funds to promoteagricultural mechanization . He also litigated ahost of state and federal civil rights casesinvolving racial discrimination in employment,voting and public education, including MariaP. v. Riles, in-validating a California statuteexcluding undocumented children fromCalifornia schools . In 1981 , Mr. Meyerhoffjoined the Natural Resources Defense Council(NRDC), a national environmentalorganization, as Director of their Public HealthProgram. He specialized in litigationconcerning toxic substances and occupationalhealth and brought successful challenges tothe continued use of cancer-causing pesticidesLes v. Reilly, the exclusion of women of "child-bearing age" from the workplace Love v.Thomas, and the California Governor's failureto comply with Proposition 65, an anti-toxicslaw AFL-CIO v. Deukmejian . During his 17years with NRDC, Mr . Meyerhoff testified morethan 50 times before the U .S. Senate andHouse of Representatives .
Mr. Meyerhoff has authored numerous articlesfor scholarly and general publications,including the Stanford Law Review, EPAJournal, Environmental Law Quarterly, TheNew York Times, The Washington Post and LosAngeles Times; has appeared regularly on suchprograms as CBS News 60 Minutes, ABC 20/20,
NBC Dateline, Good Morning America, TheToday Show and The NewsHour with JimLehrer; and has been an invited speaker at theHarvard Business School, the NationalAcademy of Sciences, the American Academyof Sciences and the AFL-CIO .
Since 1998, Mr . Meyerhoff has been leadcounsel in several labor and environmentalcases, including UNITE v. The Gap, contestingthe sale of garments manufactured undersweatshop conditions in the Commonwealth ofthe Mariana Islands, and Public Citizen v. USDOT, challenging cross border trucking fromMexico to conform to NAFTA but in violationof U.S. environmental laws . .
Mr. Meyerhoff recently was selected "TrialLawyer of the Year" by Trial Lawyers for PublicJustice and a lifetime achievement award fromthe ACLU .
G . PAUL HowEs, after Marine Corps Vietnamservice, received his Bachelor of Arts degreewith distinction from the University of NewMexico, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and PhiKappa Phi, and was the tympanist for the NewMexico Symphony Orchestra . He received hisJuris Doctor degree and Masters in PublicAdministration from the University of Virginia .He served as a Special Assistant to the Directorof the FBI, Judge William H. Webster, and thenas a law clerk to Judge Roger Robb, UnitedStates Circuit Court of Appeals for the Districtof Columbia Circuit . He was an ABC Newscorrespondent for the Washington Bureau andthen served for 11 years as an Assistant U .S .Attorney for the District of Columbia, primarilyprosecuting complex drug-organization homi-cides. He is a member of the New Mexico,District of Columbia, and California bars .
SPENCER A . BURKHOLz received his Bachelor ofArts degree in Economics, cum laude, fromClark University in 1985, where he was electedto Phi Beta Kappa, and received his JurisDoctor degree from University of VirginiaSchool of Law in 1989. Mr. Burkholz
specializes in securities class actions . A formerpartner of Milberg Weiss, he has recoveredsettlements in the following recent cases :3Com ($259 million); Vesta Insurance ($78million) ; Samsonite ($24 million) ; Emulex ($39
million); Mossimo ($13 million) ; Triteal ($13 .8million) ; Price Company ($15 million);Stratosphere Corp. ($9 million) ; and IMP ($9.5million). Mr. Burkholz was also on the trialteam in Long v. Wells Fargo . Mr. Burkholz iscurrently representing large public and multi-employer pension funds seeking to recover fortheir investments in WorldCom bonds. Mr.Burkholz is a member of the California bar andhas been admitted to practice in numerousfederal courts throughout the country .
TIMOTHY G. BLOOD graduated cum laude andwith honors in economics from Hobart Collegein 1987 and the National Law Center ofGeorge Washington University in 1990 . Hewas elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron DeltaEpsilon (economics) and the Moot Court Board(first year honors) .
Prior to partnership with Lerach Coughlin, Mr .Blood was a partner with Milberg Weiss . Mr.Blood specializes in consumer fraud and unfaircompetition litigation with a sub-specialty inactions brought by policyholders against lifeand property and casualty insurers fordeceptive sales practices, racial discriminationand systematic failures in claims adjustment .Mr. Blood has been involved in a number ofcases that have resulted in significantsettlements, including McNeil v. AmericanGeneral Life & Accident Ins. Co. ($234 million),Lee v. USLife Corp. ($148 million), Garst v.Franklin Life Ins. Co. ($90.1 million), In reGeneral American Sales Practices Litig. ($67million), Williams v. United Ins. Co. of America
($51 .4 million); and Sternberg v. AppleComputer, Inc. ($50 million) .
Mr. Blood is admitted to practice in Californiaand in the U .S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth,Sixth, Eighth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits andthe U .S. District Courts for the Southern,
Central, Eastern and Northern Districts ofCalifornia. He is a member of the San DiegoCounty and American Bar Associations, theState Bar of California, the Association ofBusiness Trial Lawyers, the Association of TrialLawyers of America and the ConsumerAttorneys of California .
ARTHUR C. LEAHY graduated with a Bachelor ofArts degree in Business from Point LomaCollege in 1987. In 1990, Mr . Leahy graduatedcum laude and received a Juris Doctor degreefrom the University of San Diego School ofLaw, where he served as Managing Editor ofthe Law Review. While in law school, Mr .Leahy authored an article published in the SanDiego LawReview and other articles publishedin another Law Journal . In addition, he servedas a judicial extern for the Honorable J .Clifford Wallace of the U .S. Court of Appealsfor the Ninth Circuit . After law school, Mr.Leahy served as a judicial law clerk for theHonorable Alan C. Kay of the U .S. DistrictCourt for the District of Hawaii .
Prior to partnership with Lerach Coughlin, Mr .Leahy was a partner with Milberg Weiss wherefor eight years he worked on securities fraudand consumer class actions in which his clientsrecovered millions of dollars . Mr. Leahy is amember of the California Bar, and has beenadmitted in numerous federal courtsthroughout the country.
FRANK J . JANECEK, JR. received his Bachelor ofScience degree in Psychology from theUniversity of California at Davis in 1987, andhis Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law Schoolin 1991 . He is admitted to the bar of the Stateof California, the district courts for all districtsCalifornia, and to the U .S. Court of Appealsforthe Sixth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits . Prior tojoining Lerach Coughlin, Mr. Janecek was apartner with Milberg Weiss, where, for 11years he practiced in the area of consumer,Proposition 65, taxpayer and tobaccolitigation. He has participated as a panelistand a speaker in continuing legal educatio n
programs relating to California's UnfairCompetition laws, public enforcement tobaccolitigation and challenging unconstitutionaltaxation schemes .
Mr. Janecek litigated several Proposition 65actions, including People ex. rel. Lungren v.Superior Court, 14 Cal . 4th 294 (1996), whichwas jointly prosecuted with the AttorneyGeneral's office. These actions resulted in therecovery of more than $10 million indisgorgement and/or civil penalties andwarnings to consumers of their exposure tocancer causing agents and reproductive toxins .Mr. Janecek chaired several of the litigationcommittees in California's tobacco litigationwhich resulted in the $25 .5 billion recovery forCalifornia and its local entities. Mr. Janecekalso handled a con-stitutional challenge to theState of California's Smog Impact Fee, in thecase Ramos v. Department of Motor Vehicles,No. 95AS00532 (Sacramento Super . Ct .) . As aresult of the Ramos litigation, more than amillion California residents received fullrefunds, plus interest, totaling $665 million .
Mr. Janecek is the co-author with Patrick J .Coughlin of "A Review of R.J. Reynolds'Internal Documents Produced in Mangini v. R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Co ., No. 939359 - The Casethat Rid California and the AmericanLandscape of 'Joe Camel'" (January 1998),which, along with more than 60,000 internalindustry documents, was released tothe publicthrough Congressman Henry Waxman . He isalso the author of "California's UnfairCompetition Act and Its Role in the TobaccoWars" (Fall 1997) . Mr. Janecek is a member ofthe American Bar Association, the CaliforniaBar Association, the San Diego County BarAssociation and the Consumer Attorneys ofCalifornia and San Diego .
DAVID J . GEORGE earned his Bachelor of Artsdegree in Political Science from the Universityof Rhode Island, Summa Cum Laude. Mr.George then graduated at the top of his classat the University of Richmond School of Law.
At the University of Richmond, Mr . George wasa member of Law Review, was the President ofthe McNeill Law Society/Order of the Coif, andearned numerous academic awards, includingoutstanding academic performance in each ofhis three years there and outstandinggraduate.
Before joining Lerach Couglin , he was apartner in the Boca Raton office of GellerRudman , PLLC. While at Geller Rudman, Mr.George, a zealous advocate of shareholderrights, has been lead and/or co-lead counselwith respect to various securities class actionmatters, including In re Cryo Cell Intl, Inc. Sec.Litig. (M . D. Fla .), In re Gilead Sciences Sec. Litig.(N .D . Cal .) and Mobility Electronics Sec. Litig.(D. Ariz .) . Mr. George has also acted as leadcounsel in numerous consumer class actions .Before joining Geller Rudman, Mr . Georgespent more than a decade as a commerciallitigator with two of the largest corporate lawfirms in the United States . During that timeMr. George aggressively prosecuted anddefended a wide array of complex commerciallitigation matters, including securities classaction matters , non-compete litigation, fraudclaims, and real estate based litigation ma tters .
Mr. George is licensed to practice law in thestate courts of Florida, as well as the UnitedStates District Courts for the Southern, Middleand Northern Districts of Florida . He iscurrently or has been a member of theAmerican Bar Association, the Academy ofFlorida Trial Lawyers, the Palm Beach CountyBar Association and the South Palm BeachCounty Bar Association .
SANFORD SVETCOV is a partner with theAppellate Practice Group of Lerach Coughlin .He was formerly a partner with Milberg Weiss .He has briefed and argued more than 300appeals in state and federal court, includingBraxton v. Mun. Court, 10 Cal . 3d 138 (1973)(First Amendment); Procunier v. Navarette, 434U.S. 555 (1978) (civil rights) ; Parker Plaza WestPartners v. UNUM Pension & Ins. Co., 941 F.2d
349 (5th Cir. 1991) (real estate); Catellus Dev.Corp. v. United States, 34 F.3d 748 (9th Cir.
1994) (CERCLA); U.S. v. Hove, 52 F.3d 233 (9thCir. 1995) (criminal law); Kelly v. City ofOakland, 198 F.3d 779 (9th Cir. 1999)(employment law, same gender sexualharassment) ; United States v. Henke, 222 F.3d633 (9th Cir . 2000) (securities fraud) ; Moore v.Liberty Nat'l Life Ins. Co., 267 F.3d 1209 (11thCir. 2001) (civil rights) ; In re Cavanaugh, 306F.3d 726 (9th Cir . 2002) (securities fraud) .
Mr. Svetcov's professional appellate litigationexperience includes securities fraud litigation,CERCLA, CEQA, commercial litigation, CleanWater Act, Civil Rights Act litigation, toxictorts, federal criminal law, California writpractice, employment law and ERISA .
Prior to joining Milberg Weiss in July 2000, Mr .Svetcov was a partner with the firm of LandelsRipley & Diamond, LLP, in San Francisco, from1989 to 2000 . His extensive legal experienceincludes service as: Chief, Appellate Section,U.S. Attorney's Office, San Francisco, 1984-1989; Attorney-in-Charge, Organized CrimeStrike Force, San Francisco, 1981-1984; ChiefAssistant U .S. Attorney, San Francisco, 1978-1981 ; Deputy Attorney General, State ofCalifornia, 1969-1977; Legal Officer, U .S. Navy,VT-25, Chase Field, Beeville, Texas, 1966-1969;and Deputy Legislative Counsel, Legislature ofCalifornia, Sacramento, 1965-1966 .
Mr. Svetcov is certified as a Specialist inAppellate Practice by the State Bar ofCalifornia Board of Legal Specialization. Hewas selected by the Attorney General for theDepartment of Justice's John Marshall Awardfor Excellence in Appellate Advocacy in 1986and is a member and past President (1998) ofthe American Academy of Appellate Lawyers,and a member of the California Academy ofAppellate Lawyers .
In 1999, Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Mr.Svetcov to a three-year term on the FederalAppellate Rules Advisory Committee . He is
also an ex-officio member of the Ninth CircuitRules Advisory Committee on Rules andInternal Operating Procedures . His othermemberships and service commitments to thelegal profession include the CaliforniaAcademy of Appellate Lawyers ; the BarAssociation of San Francisco (Appellate Cou rtssection); the American Bar Association(Appellate Judges Conference ) Committee onAppellate Practice ; Northern California FederalBar Association , Board of Directors .
Mr. Svetcov earned his Bachelor of Artsdegree, cum laude, from Brooklyn College in1961 and his Juris Doctor degree from theUniversity of California, Berkeley, in 1964. Heis a member of the Bars of the State ofCalifornia; the U .S. Supreme Court; the Courtof Appeals, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth and EleventhCircuits; and the U .S. District Court, NorthernDistrict of California .
For two decades, he as been active as a teacherand lecturer at continuing legal educationprograms, including those of the ABAAppellate Practice Institutes (1990-2000) ; theNinth Circuit Federal Bar Association AppellatePractice Seminar; and the N .I .T .A. AppellateAdvocacy Seminar, and Fifth Circuit BarAssociation Appellate Practice Seminars (1991-1999). He has served as an adjunct professor atHastings College of Law and an instructor inAppellate Advocacy at the U.S. AttorneyGeneral's Advocacy Institute (1980-1989) .
Sandy Svetcov is also active in communityaffairs. He has been a member of the SanFrancisco Jewish Community Relations Councilsince 1982, its president from 1991-1992, andduring the years 1993-1995, he also served onthe Northern California Hillel Council .
MICHAEL J. Down graduated from FordhamUniversity, magna cum laude, in 1981 with aBachelor of Arts degree in History and Latin .While at Fordham, he was elected to Phi BetaKappa. He earned his Juris Doctor degree in1984 from the University of Michigan School of
Law and entered private practice in New Yorkthat same year. He was admitted to practice inNew York in 1985 and in California in 1988 .
Mr. Dowd served as an Assistant U .S. Attorneyin the Southern District of California from1987-1991 and again from 1994-1998 . He is arecipient of the Director's Award for SuperiorPerformance as an Assistant U .S. Attorney. Mr .Dowd was formerly a partner with MilbergWeiss .
DAVID C. WALTON earned his Bachelor of Artsdegree in Accounting from the University ofUtah and his Juris Doctor degree from theUniversity of Southern California Law Center in1993. While there, he was a staff member ofthe Southern California Law Review and amember of the Hale Moot Court HonorsProgram.
Mr. Walton was formerly a partner withMilberg Weiss where he worked for ten yearsprior to joining Lerach Coughlin . He is amember of the Bar of California . Mr. Walton,a Certified Public Accountant (California 1992)and Certified Fraud Examiner, who is alsofluent in Spanish, focuses on class actions onbehalf of defrauded investors, particularly inthe area of accounting fraud . He hasinvestigated and participated in the litigationof many large accounting scandals, includingEnron, WorldCom, Informix, HealthSouth,Dynegy and Dollar General . In 2003-2004, Mr .Walton served as a member of the CaliforniaBoard of Accountancy which is responsible forregulating the accounting profession inCalifornia .
RANDALL H. STEINMEYER earned his Bachelor o f
Science degree from the University of SouthernCalifornia in 1993, and his Juris Doctor degree,cum laude from Hamline University School ofLaw in 1996, where he was a member of theHamline Law Review. He is the author of "TheInterrelationship Between NASD Arbitrationsand NASD Disciplinary Proceedings," 281Practicing Law Institute (1998) . Prior to joining
Lerach Coughlin, Mr. Steinmeyer was withMilberg Weiss for five years. Formerly, Mr .Steinmeyer headed the securities litigationdepartment of Reinhardt & Anderson in St .Paul, Minnesota . Mr. Steinmeyer is a memberof the bar of Minnesota and the U .S. DistrictCourt for the District of Minnesota. Mr.Steinmeyer is a former securities broker andheld a Series 7 license with the NationalAssociation of Securities Dealers .
In 2003, he was a guest lecturer at OxfordUniversity (UK) on the impact of corporate andbroker dealer fraud on the investmentcommunity. Prior to joining Lerach Coughlin,Mr. Steinmeyer was a partner with MilbergWeiss. He also sits on the Board of Directors ofthe Hedge Fund Association. He has authorednumerous articles on the hedge fund industryand offshore financial community .
Mr. Steinmeyer focuses on class actions onbehalf of defrauded investors . Prior to joiningMilberg Weiss, Mr. Steinmeyer was appointedlead counsel in several large and complex classactions which resulted in the recovery of tensof millions of dollars for aggrieved investors .Mr. Steinmeyer's reported cases include :Ganesh LLC v. Computer Learning Centers,1998 WL 892622 (E.D. Va. 1998) ; Gart v.Electroscope, 1998 WL 757970 (D . Minn . 1998);Chill v. Green Tree Fin . Corp., 181 F.R.D. 398 (D .Minn. 1998); and In re Transcrypt Int'l Sec.Litig., No. 4:98CV3099, 1999 U .S. Dist . LEXIS17540 (D . Neb. Nov. 4, 1999) .
JEFFREY W. LAWRENCE received his Bachelor ofArts degree, magna cum laude, from TuftsUniversity in 1976. In 1979, Mr. Lawrencegraduated magna cum laude with a JurisDoctor degree from Boston School of Law . Hewas a staff member of the Boston UniversityLaw Review from 1977-78, and its editor from1978-79 .
From September 1979 to September 1980, Mr .Lawrence served as law clerk to the HonorableWalter Jay Skinner, U .S. District Court, District
of Massachusetts. He was admitted to theMassachusetts bar in 1979, and to the Bar ofCalifornia in 1991 . He is licensed to practicebefore the U .S. Court of Appeals, First andNinth Circuits, the U .S. District Court, District ofMassachusetts, and the Northern District ofCalifornia .
From 1983 to 1994, Mr. Lawrence was anAssistant U .S. Attorney, Criminal Division,where he obtained extensive trial experiencein white collar crimes, ranging from money-laundering to stock fraud . He was formerly apartner with Milberg Weiss, where he workedfor eight years .
HENRY ROSEN obtained his Bachelor of Artsdegree in 1984 from the University ofCalifornia, after attending American College inParis. In 1988, Mr. Rosen received his JurisDoctor degree from the University of Denver,where he was Editor-in-Chief for the Universityof Denver Law Review. Mr. Rosen served asJudicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Jim R .Carrigan, U.S. District Court, District ofColorado, from 1989 to 1990. He is a memberof the firm's Hiring Committee and is also amember of the firm's Technology Committeewhich focuses on applications to digitallymanage documents produced during litigationand internally generate research files .
Prior to joining Lerach Coughlin, Mr . Rosenhad 13 years experience prosecuting securitiesfraud actions with Milberg Weiss on behalf ofindividual clients 'and investor classes. Majorclients include Minebea Co ., Ltd., a Japanesemanufacturing company, represented in asecurities fraud arbitration against a U.S .investment bank . Mr. Rosen has significantexperience prosecuting every aspect ofsecurities fraud class actions and has obtainedhundreds of millions of dollars on behalf ofdefrauded investors . Prominent cases include :In re Storagetek Sec. Litig., No. 92 -B-750 (D .Colo .) ; In re Access HealthNet Sec. Litig., Nos .SACV-96-1250-GLT(EEx) and No . SACV-97-191-GLT(EEx) (C.D. Cal .); In re Valence Sec. Litig.,
No. C-95-20459-JW(EAI) (N .D . Cal .) ; In re J.D.Edwards Sec. Litig., No. 99-N-1744 (D . Colo .) ; Inre Bergen Brunswig Sec. Litig. and BergenBrunswig Capital Litig., No. SACV-99-1462-AHS(ANx) (C.D. Cal .) ; In re Advanced LightingSec. Litig ., No. 1 :99CV8936 (N .D. Ohio) ; and Inre Safeskin Sec. Litig ., No. 99cv454-BTM(LSP)(S.D. Cal .) .
Mr. Rosen is admitted to the California bar(1991) and the Colorado bar ( 1988). He is amember of the State Bar of California, theAmerican Bar Association (Litigation Section),the Association of Trial Lawyers of America,the California Trial Lawyers of America,California Trial Lawyers Association and theSan Diego Trial Lawyers Association .
RANDALL J. BARON was born in Albuquerque,New Mexico in 1964. Mr. Baron received hisBachelor of Arts degree from University ofColorado at Boulder in 1987 and his JurisDoctor degree, cum laude from University ofSan Diego School of Law in 1990 . He was amember of the San Diego Law Review from1988-1989 . Mr. Baron was admitted to theCalifornia Bar in 1990 and the Colorado Bar in1993. Since 1997, Mr. Baron is licensed topractice in Colorado State Court as well as theU.S. District Court for the Southern, Northernand Central Districts of California, as well asthe District of Colorado. Formerly, Mr. Baronserved as a Deputy District Attorney in LosAngeles County . From 1990-1994, he was atrial deputy in numerous offices throughoutLos Angeles County, where he tried over 70felony cases. From 1990-1994, Mr. Baron waspart of the Special Investigation Division of theLos Angeles District Attorneys office where heinvestigated and prosecuted public corruptioncases. Mr. Baron was formerly a partner withMilberg Weiss, where he worked for sevenyears prior to joining Lerach Coughlin . Hespecializes in securities litigation and actionsfor breach of fiduciary duty .
EDWARD P. DIETRICH, born inWhite Plains, NewYork on October 14, 1961 . Mr. Dietrich
received his Bachelor of Arts degree fromSkidmore College in 1983 . He received his JurisDoctor degree from George WashingtonUniversity in 1986 and was elected to Phi BetaKappa. He was a member of the moot courtboard. He was admitted to the New York statebar in 1987. Mr. Dietrich is able to practice inU .S. District Court, Southern and EasternDistricts of New York; 1994, U.S. District Court,Northern District of California ; 1995, Californiaand U .S. District Courts, Central District ofCalifornia; 1997, U .S. District Court, Southernand Eastern Districts of California, U .S. DistrictCourt, District of Arizona and U .S. Court ofAppeals, Ninth Circuit .
JACK REUSE earned his Bachelor of Arts degreein History from Binghamton University . Hegraduated cum laude from University of MiamiSchool of Law where he was an AssociateEditor on the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review and was also therecipient of the American Jurisprudence BookAward in Contracts .
Since he began practicing law, Mr . Reise hasbeen devoted to protecting the rights of thosewho have been harmed by corporatemisconduct. Mr. Reise started his legal careerrepresenting individuals suffering thedebilitating affects of asbestos exposure backin the 1950s and 1960s .
Mr. Reise has since concentrated his practiceon class action litigation, including securitiesfraud, shareholder derivative actions,consumer protection, unfair and deceptiveinsurance practices and antitrust . Prior tojoining the firm, Mr. Reise was a partner at thelaw firm of Cauley Geller. He was also anassociate with Milberg Weiss from 1998-2000 .
A substantial portion of Mr . Reise's practice isdevoted to representing shareholders inactions brought under the federal securitieslaws. He is currently serving as Lead Counsel inmore than a dozen cases nationwide includingAbrams v.Van Kampen Funds, No. 01 C 7538
(N.D. III .) (case involving a mutual fund that ischarged with improperly valuating its net assetvalue), and In re NewPower Holdings Sec.Litig ., No. 02 Civ. 1550 (CLB) (S.D.N.Y.), whichrecently settled with several of the defendantsfor $26 million .
Mr. Reise has been admitted to the Florida Barsince 1995. He is also admitted to practicebefore United States Courts of Appeals for theFirst, Fourth and Eleventh Circuits, as well asthe Southern and Middle District Courts ofFlorida .
PAMELA M. PARKER received her Bachelor ofArts degree in Political Science and French,with a concentration in International Politics,from the State University of New York atBinghamton, and was elected to Phi BetaKappa. Ms. Parker received a Juris Doctordegree from Harvard Law School cum laude in1982. While at Harvard, Ms. Parker was anArticles Editor of the Civil Rights/Civil LibertiesLaw Review. After graduation, she served as alaw clerk to the Honorable Frank J. Battisti,Chief Judge of the U .S. District Court, NorthernDistrict of Ohio. Upon leaving the clerkship,Ms. Parker worked as an associate with theNew York firm of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton& Garrison. In 1988, Ms. Parker becameassociated with the New York firm ofLankenau Kovner & Bickford, specializing inrepresentation of publications, libel defenseand First Amendment law .
Ms. Parker was formerly with Milberg Weissfor 13 years . As a partner there, her practiceincluded appellate matters and environmental,consumer fraud and securities fraud litigation.Ms. Parker pa rt icipated in the successfulprosecution of several impo rtant actionsincluding In re The Exxon Valdez, No. A89-095(D. Alaska), in which she se rved as a memberof the trial support team, and which resultedin a $5 billion ju ry verdict; Pinney v. GreatWestern Bank, et a/., No . CV-95-2100-I(RNBx)(C.D . Cal .), in which she se rved as one of theprincipal a ttorneys for plaintiffs and which
resulted in a settlement of $17 .2 million, andDoes 1, et al. v. The Gap, Inc., et al., No. 010031(D. Northern Mariana Islands), in which shewas the lead prosecuting attorney and whichresulted in a $20 million settlement, includinga precedent-setting Monitoring Program tomonitor labor and human rights practices inSaipan garment factories. In July 2003, Ms .Parker was named Trial Lawyer of the Year bythe Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, inrecognition of her work on the case in theNorthern Mariana Island.
Ms. Parker is a member of the AppellatePractice Group of Lerach Coughlin . She hasworked on a variety of appellate mattersbefore numerous courts, including the U .S.Courts of Appeal for the Fifth, Sixth, Ninth andTenth Circuits, and the appellate courts ofCalifornia, Alabama, Ohio and Tennessee . Sheis a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth CircuitJudicial Conference .
Ms. Parker is admitted to practice in Californiaand New York. She has been an activemember of the Federal Bar Association, theSan Diego County Bar Association and theLawyers Club of San Diego, and also holdsmemberships with the American BarAssociation and California Women Lawyers .She sits on the Board of Directors for the LegalAid Society of San Diego .
STEVEN W. PEPICH received his Bachelor ofScience degree in Economics from Utah StateUniversity in 1980 and his Juris Doctor degreefrom De Paul University in 1983 . Mr. Pepich isadmitted to practice before the Courts ofCalifornia and the District Court for theSouthern, Central, Eastern and NorthernDistricts of California . Formerly a partner withMilberg Weiss, Mr . Pepich has been engaged ina wide variety of civil litigation, includingconsumer fraud, mass tort, royalty, civil rights,human rights, ERISA and employment lawactions, as well as many securities andcorporate litigations . He was part of theplaintiffs' trial team in Mynaf v. Taco Bell
Corp., which settled after two months of trialon terms favorable to two plaintiff classes ofrestaurant workers, for recovery of unpaidwages. He was also a member of the plaintiffs'trial team in Newman v. Stringfellow where,after a nine-month trial in Riverside, California,all claims for exposure to toxic chemicals wereultimately resolved for $109 million . Mr.Pepich has also participated in the successfulprosecution of numerous securities fraud classactions, including Gohler v. Wood, No. 92-C-181 ($17 .2 million recovery); In re AdvancedMicro Devices Sec. Litig., No. C-93-20662-RPA(PVT) ($34 million recovery) ; In re CatalystSemiconductor Sec. Litig., No. C-93-2096 ($15million recovery); In re Gupta Corp. Sec. Litig.,No. C-94-1517 ($6 million recovery); In reLouisiana-Pacific Corp. Sec. Litig., No. C-95-707($65 million recovery); and in re Boeing Sec.Litig., No. C-97-1715Z ($92 million recovery) .Mr. Pepich is a member of the American BarAssociation, the San Diego Bar Association andthe Association of Business Trial Lawyers of SanDiego. Mr. Pepich co-authored with William S .Lerach "Personal Liability Considerations ofOfficers and Directors in the TakeoverContext," CEB, Business Law Institute, April1986, and "New Diligence Considerations inthe Context of the Federal Securities Laws,"CEB Fourth Annual Securities Institute, May1986.
LAURA ANDRACCHIO, prior to joining LerachCoughlin, was a partner with Milberg Weiss.Her practice focuses primarily on litigationunder the federal securities laws . Ms.Andracchio has litigated dozens of casesagainst public companies in federal and statecourts throughout the country, and hascontributed to hundreds of millions ofdollars in recoveries for injured investors .Most recently, Ms. Andracchio was a leadmember of the trial team in In re AT&T Corp.Sec. Litig., which was tried in district court inNew Jersey, and which settled after twoweeks of trial for $100 million . Prior to trial,Ms. Andracchio was responsible fo r
managing and litigating the case, which waspending for four years.
Ms. Andracchio received her Bachelor of Artsdegree from Bucknell University in 1986, andher Juris Doctor degree with honors fromDuquesne University School of Law in 1989.While at Duquesne, Ms. Andracchio waselected to the order of Barristers andrepresented the Law School in the NationalSamuel J . Polsky Appellate Moot Courtcompetition, in which she placed as a finalist,and in the regional Gourley Cup Trial MootCourt competition .
JOHN K . GRANT was born in Provo, Utah in1961 . Mr. Grant received his Bachelor of Artsdegree from Brigham Young University in 1988and his Juris Doctor degree from the Universityof Texas at Austin in 1990 . Mr. Grant wasadmitted to the California bar in 1994.
KATHLEEN A . HERKENHOFF received a Bachelorof Arts in English Literature from theUniversity of California at Berkeley in 1989,and received a Juris Doctor degree fromPepperdine University School of Law in 1993 .While at Pepperdine, she received AmericanJurisprudence Awards in Constitutional Lawand Agency-Partnership Law. Aftergraduation from Pepperdine, Ms . Herkenhoffwas an enforcement attorney with the U .S .Securities and Exchange Commission . Prior tojoining Lerach Coughlin, she was a partnerwith Milberg Weiss. Ms. Herkenhoff is a 1993admittee to the State Bar of California and hasbeen admitted to practice before the U .S .District Courts for the Northern, Central,Eastern and Southern Districts of California .Ms. Herkenhoff has successfully prosecutedseveral complex securities class actions, mostrecently obtaining a $122 million settlementagainst Mattel, Inc . and several of its formerofficers and directors .
KIMBERLY C. EPSTEIN graduated with aBachelor of Science in Business Administrationfrom California State University at Hayward in
1988. She attended University of San FranciscoSchool of Law where she was a joint J .D./MBAdegree candidate and obtained her JurisDoctor degree in 1993 . Ms. Epstein clerked inthe Law and Motion Department of the SanFrancisco Superior Court for the HonorableWilliam J. Cahill (Ret .) . She was admitted tothe California bar in 1993 and predominantlypractices in the area of securities litigation .Prior to partnership with Lerach Coughlin, Ms .Epstein was a partner with Milberg Weisswhere she began her employment in 1994 .She is licensed to practice in the state ofCalifornia and before the U .S. District Courts inNorthern and Central California, Arizona, andthe U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit .
MICHELLE M. CICCARELLI represents workers,consumers and shareholders in a broad rangeof complex class-action litigations for securitiesfraud, fraudulent business practices, humanrights abuses, labor and employmentviolations, as well as derivative litigation forbreaches of fiduciary duties by corporateofficers and directors. She is the editor ofLerach Coughlin's Corporate GovernanceBulletin and Taking Action - FightingCorporate Corruption, and the author ofPension Power: How Union Pension Funds AreRecovering Stolen Assets and Changing theWay Public Companies Do Business and"Improving Corporate Governance throughLitigation Settlements" (Corporate GovernanceReview, 2003) . She is a frequent lecturer onsecurities fraud, corporate governance, andother issues of import to institutional investors.
Prior to partnership with Lerach Coughlin, shewas a partner at Milberg Weiss, where sheparticipated in the successful prosecution ofseveral important actions, including Does /, etal. v. The Gap, Inc. et a/., No. 01-0031 (D N .Mariana Islands), in which she was one of thelead litigators, spending several months onSaipan working with clients, investigatingclaims, and obtaining discovery . The case wassuccessfully concluded with a $20 millionsettlement, including a precedent-settin g
Monitoring Program to monitor labor andhuman rights practices in Saipan garmentfactories.
Formerly, she practiced in Kentucky in the areaof labor and employment law. She was the co-editor of the Kentucky Employment Law Letter(1998) and co-author of "Wage and HourUpdate" (Lorman 1998) . She was also aregular lecturer for the Kentucky Cabinet forEconomic Development .
She was a law clerk to the Honorable SaraWalter Combs, Kentucky Court of Appeals(1994-95) after obtaining her Juris Doctordegree from the University of Kentucky in1993. She is a member of the California andKentucky bars, and is admitted to practicebefore the U .S. District Courts for bothjurisdictions as well as the Sixth Circuit Court ofAppeals .
JAMES I . JACONETTE was born in San Diego,California in 1967. Mr. Jaconette is one ofthree partners responsible for the day-todayprosecution of In re Enron Corp. Sec Litig. (S .D .Tex.) and In re Dynegy, Inc. Sec. Litig . (S.D.Tex.), on behalf of Lead Plaintiff The Regentsof the University of California, and the largeclasses of public investors represented in thoseactions. Mr. Jaconette has litigated securitiesclass actions and corporate governance/merger& acquisition-related actions since 1995. Todate, cases in which Mr . Jaconette executed aprimary litigating role, including In re InformixCorp. Sec. Litig. (N.D. Cal.), resulted inapproximately $300 million in settlements,judgments, or common funds that benefitedinvestors.
Mr. Jaconette attended San Diego StateUniversity, receiving his Bachelor of Artsdegree with honors and distinction in 1989and his M.B.A. in 1992. In 1995, Mr. Jaconettereceived his Juris Doctor degree cum laudefrom Hastings College of the Law, University ofCalifornia, San Francisco. Mr. Jaconette wasthe Mortar Board Vice President from 1988-
1989, a member of the Hastings Law Journalfrom 1993-1994, and Associate Articles Editorfor same from 1994-1995 . Mr. Jaconetteauthored "The Fraud-on-the-Market Theory inState Law Securities Fraud Suits," Hastings LawJournal, Volume 46, August, 1995. In 1993, Mr .Jaconette served as law clerk to the HonorableBarbara J . Gamer, and in 1994, as extern to theHonorable William H . Orrick, Jr ., District Judge.
In 1995, Mr. Jaconette was admitted to theCalifornia bar and licensed to practice beforethe U.S. District Court, Southern District ofCalifornia .
TOR GRONBORG was born in Portland, Oregonin 1969. Mr. Gronborg received his Bachelor ofArts degree in 1991 from the University ofCalifornia at Santa Barbara and was a recipientof an AFL-CIO history scholarship . In 1992, Mr .Gronborg did graduate work in internationalrelations and strategic studies atthe Universityof Lancaster, UK on a Rotary InternationalFellowship . Mr. Gronborg received his JurisDoctor degree from Boalt Hall at the Universityof California at Berkeley where he was amember of the Moot Court Board .
Mr. Gronborg was admitted to the Californiabar in 1995, and in 1997 was licensed topractice in the courts of the Ninth Circuit andthe Northern, Central and Southern Districts ofCalifornia. Mr. Gronborg's practice areas atLerach Coughlin include securities litigation,and campaign and election law .
THOMAS E. EGLER was born in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania in 1967. Mr. Egler received hisBachelor of Arts degree from NorthwesternUniversity in 1989 . Mr. Egler received his JurisDoctor degree in 1995 from Catholic Universityof America, Columbus School of Law, where heserved as Associate Editor for CatholicUniversity Law Review from 1994-1995 . From1995-1997, Mr. Egler was Law Clerk to theHonorable Donald E . Ziegler, Chief Judge, U .S.District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania .
Mr. Eglerwas admitted to the California bar in1995 and the Pennsylvania bar in 1996. He isadmitted to practice before the U.S. DistrictCourts for the Western District of Pennsylvania,the Northern, Southern and Central Districts ofCalifornia, and the U .S. Court of Appeals forthe Third and Eleventh Circuits .
PATRICK W. DANIELS earned his Bachelor ofArts degree, cum laude from the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley in 1993 and his JurisDoctor degree from the University of SanDiego School of Law in 1997 . He is the authorof "The Capital Formation and Securities FraudEnforcement Act of 1996: Historic andEconomic Perspectives," Joint Interim Hearing,California State Senate Finance, Investmentand International Trade and Assembly Bankingand Finance Committees, Information HearingFinal Report, at 393 (1997). Admitted topractice: California, 1997.
Mr. Daniels represents workers, consumers andshareholders in a broad range of complexlitigation - class actions for fraudulent businesspractices, human rights abuses, andshareholder actions for defrauded investors.Mr. Daniels represents a number ofinternational public and jointly-trusteed labor-management pension funds, as well as fundmanagers in securities fraud and individualactions involving Enron, WorldCom and AOLTime Warner, among many other actions. Mr.Daniels has been a featured speaker at pensionfund conferences in the United States, Europe,the South Pacific and Australia .
In the human rights area, Mr . Daniels was amember of an international coalition ofattorneys and human rights groups who wonan historical settlement with major U .S .clothing retailers and manufacturers, includingThe Gap, Target Corporation and J .C. Penney,on behalf of a certified class of over 50,000predominantly female Chinese garmentworkers on the island of Saipan in an actionseeking to hold the Saipan garment industryresponsible for creating a system of indentured
servitude and forced labor in Saipan garmentfactories. The coalition obtained anagreement for supervision of workingconditions in the Saipan factories by anindependent NGO, as well as a substantialmonetary award for the workers. In July 2003,several members of the coalition of attorneyswere collectively honored as the "Trial Lawyersof the Year" by the Trial Lawyers for PublicJustice .
Mr. Daniels is also one of the lead attorneys inhistoric class action litigation on behalf of U .S .POWs and Chinese and Korean civilians againstJapanese corporations that used slave andforced labor during WWII .
ANDREW J . BROWN was born in NorthernCalifornia in 1966 . He received his Bachelor ofArts degree from the University of Chicago in1988 and received his Juris Doctor degree fromthe University of California, Hastings Collegeof Law in 1992 . Upon passing the bar, Mr.Brown worked as a trial lawyer for the SanDiego County Public Defender's Office. In1997, he opened his own firm in San Diego,representing consumers and insureds inlawsuits against major insurance companies.Prior to joining Lerach Coughlin, Mr. Brownwas a partner, and had worked for MilbergWeiss for four years. His current practicefocuses on representing consumers andshareholders in class action litigation againstcompanies nationwide .
As a partner at the Firm, Mr . Brown continuesto change the way corporate America doesbusiness. He prosecutes complex securitiesfraud and shareholder derivative actions,resulting in multi-million dollar recoveries toshareholders and precedent-setting changes incorporate practices. Recent examples includeDoes /, et al. v. The Gap, Inc., et a/., No. 010031(D. Northern Mariana Islands), Arlia v.Blankenship, 234 F. Supp. 2d 606 (S.D. W.Va.2002), and In re FirstEnergy Corp. Sec. Litig.,316 F . Supp. 2d 581 (N.D. Ohio 2004)
Mr. Brown is admitted to the bars of Californiaand the U.S. District Courts for all Districts inCalifornia .
CHRISTOPHER BURKE earned his Juris Doctordegree from the University of Wisconsin in1993 and his Ph .D . in 1996. His practice areasinclude antitrust and consumer protection .Formerly a partner with Milberg Weiss, he wasa part of the trial teams that successfullyprosecuted the In re Disposable Contact LensAntitrust Litig. ($89 million) and Schwartz v.Visa, etal. ($170 million) .
Prior, he was an Assistant Attorney General atthe Wisconsin Department of Justice. He haslectured on law-related topics includingconstitutional law, law and politics, and civilrights at the State University of New York atBuffalo and at the University of Wisconsin . Hisbook, The Appearance of Equality: TheSupreme Court and Racial Gerrymandering(Greenwood, 1999), examines conflicts overvoting rights and political representationwithin the competing rhetoric ofcommunitarian and liberal strategies ofjustification .
JONATHAN M. STEIN earned his Bachelor ofScience degree in Business Administration fromthe University of Florida, where heconcentrated his studies in Finance . While atFlorida , he was selected to join the honorsociety of Omicron Delta Epsilon, recognizingoutstanding achievement in Economics . Mr.Stein earned his Juris Doctor degree from NovaSoutheastern University, where he was therecipient of the American Jurisprudence BookAward in Federal Civil Procedure and served asChief Justice of the Student Honor Court .
Mr. Stein began his practice of law in FortLauderdale as a prosecutor in the StateAttorney's Office for the Seventeenth JudicialCircuit of Florida, where he handled numerousjury trials. Before concentrating his practice inclass action litigation, he also practiced as alitigator with one of Florida's largest law firms,
where he concentrated on fighting insurancefraud. Prior to joining the firm, Mr . Stein wasa partner with Geller Rudman , PLLC . Mr. Steinis involved in all aspects of class actionlitigation , including securities fraud,shareholder class and derivative actions,consumer fraud , products liability andantitrust.
A substantial portion of Mr. Stein's practice isdedicated to the representation of publicshareholders of companies whose shares areacquired through management buyouts,leveraged buyouts, mergers, acquisitions,tender offers, and other change-of-controltransactions. Mr. Stein has represented clientsin seeking to protect shareholders by insuringthat they receive maximum compensation fortheir shares and also by insuring that theyreceive all necessary information anddisclosure concerning the transactions . He hasbeen successful in restructuring manytransactions and recovering millions of dollarsin additional value for shareholders .
Mr. Stein is licensed to practice law in the statecourts of Florida, as well as in the United StatesDistrict Courts for the Southern and MiddleDistricts of Florida and the District of Colorado .In addition to these courts and jurisdictions,Mr. Stein regularly works on cases with localcounsel throughout the country . Mr. Stein hasbeen or is a member of the Association of TrialLawyers of America, the American BarAssociation, the Palm Beach County BarAssociation and the South Palm Beach CountyBar Association .
ROBERT M . ROTHMAN earned his Bachelor ofArts Degree in Economics from the StateUniversity of New York at Binghamton . Hethen earned his Juris Doctor degree, withdistinction, from Hofstra University School ofLaw. During law school, Mr. Rothman was amember of the Law Review and was awardedThe Dean's Academic Scholarship forcompleting his first year in the top one percentof his class .
After law school , Mr. Rothman practicedcommercial litigation with an international lawfirm. Having litigated cases involving many ofthe nation 's largest companies, Mr. Rothmanhas extensive experience in the areas ofconsumer protection , antitrust and investmentfraud . Mr. Rothman also regularly tries andarbitrates cases . For example, he obtained amulti-million dollar verdict after the trial of ashareholders ' derivative case, as well as multi-million dollar judgments on behalf ofdefrauded investors .
Prior to joining Lerach Coughlin, Mr. Rothmanwas a partner at Geller Rudman, PLLC wherehe concentrated his practice on representingshareholders and consumers in class actions .
Mr. Rothman is admitted to practice beforethe courts of the State of New York, as well asthe United States District Courts for theSouthern and Eastern Districts of New York .Mr. Rothman is a member of the American BarAssociation's Sections of Litigation andAntitrust Law .
DANIEL DROSMAN is a partner with LerachCoughlin. He is a former federal prosecutorwith extensive litigation experience beforetrial and appellate courts. His practice focuseson securities fraud litigation and othercomplex civil litigation . Mr. Drosman isadmitted to practice in New York andCalifornia and before federal courtsthroughout those states .
Mr. Drosman is a native San Diegan whoreceived his Bachelor of Arts degree in politicalscience from Reed College in 1990 with honorsand Phi Beta Kappa . He received his JurisDoctor degree from Harvard Law School in1993. Following graduation from law school,Mr. Drosman served for three years as anAssistant District Attorney for the ManhattanDistrict Attorney's Office. While at theManhattan District Attorney's Office, Mr .Drosman served in both the appellate section,where he briefed and argued over 25 cases to
the New York appellate courts, and in the trialsection, where he prosecuted a wide variety ofstreet crime .
From 1996 until 1997, Mr. Drosman was a n
associate in the New York office of WellGotshal & Manges, where he specialized in civillitigation and white collar criminal defense .
In 1997, Mr . Drosman returned to San Diegoand became an Assistant U .S. Attorney in theSouthern District of California . In the SouthernDistrict, Mr . Drosman tried cases before theU.S. District Court and briefed and arguednumerous appeals before the Ninth CircuitCourt of Appeals. He was a member of theborder crimes unit, where he was assigned toinvestigate and prosecute violations of thefederal narcotics and immigration laws, andofficial corruption cases. During his tenure asan Assistant U .S. Attorney, Mr. Drosmanreceived the Department of Justice SpecialAchievement Award in recognition ofsustained superior performance of duty .
Mr. Drosman was a partner for Milberg Weissbefore joining the Firm in 2004 . Mr. Drosman'spractice involves representing defraudedinvestors in securities class actions, an area inwhich Mr. Drosman has co-authored a lawjournal article .
AzRA Z. MEHDi earned her Bachelors of Arts in1992 from the University of Illinois at Chicagowith high honors in English and GermanLiterature. She was a member of the HonorsCollege and spent a year at the University ofVienna in Austria . She received her JurisDoctor degree from DePaul University Collegeof Law in Chicago in 1995 . Upon graduation,Ms. Mehdi did an internship at the Austrianlaw firm of Ortner Poch & Foramitti . Ms.Mehdi began her employment at MilbergWeiss in 1997 focusing her practice on antitrustlitigation and securities fraud litigation . Shewas a partner at Milberg Weiss prior to herpartnership at Lerach Coughlin .
Ms. Mehdi is admitted to practice in New York(1996), California (2002), before the U .S.District Court for the Southern and the EasternDistricts of New York (1997) and the U .S .District Court for the Northern, Central andSouthern Districts of California (2002) . She is amember of the American Bar Association, theCalifornia Bar Association and the SanFrancisco Bar Association . Ms. Mehdi is fluentin German and Hindi .
KEVIN K. GREEN is a member of the firm'sAppellate Practice Group . He specializes inappeals and writs in state courts, particularlythe California appellate courts .
Mr. Green received his Bachelor of Arts degree,with honors and distinction from theUniversity of California at Berkeley in 1989 andhis Juris Doctor degree from Notre Dame LawSchool in 1995. After law school, he clerkedfor the Honorable Theodore R . Boehm,Associate Justice, Supreme Court of Indiana,and the Honorable Barry T. Moskowitz, U.S .District Judge, Southern District of California .In 1999, Mr. Green joined Milberg Weiss,where he became a partner . He then joinedLerach Coughlin when the firm was founded in2004 .
Due to the national scope of the practice, Mr .Green has handled appellate matters innumerous states. His appellate decisionsinclude: Lebrilla v. Farmers Group, Inc., 119 Cal .App. 4th 1070 (2004) (reversing denial of classcertification and ordering certification ofstatewide class); West Corp . v. Superior Court,116 Cal . App. 4th 1167 (2004) (upholdingpersonal jurisdiction over telemarketers suedunder California law); Ritt v. Blanks, 2003 OhioApp. LEXIS 3297 (Ohio Ct. App. July 10, 2003)(reversing denial of class certification) ; andLavie v. Procter & Gamble Co ., 105 Cal . App.4th 496 (2003) (addressing "reasonableconsumer" standard under California law) .
While in law school, Mr . Green authored astudent note titled "A Vote Properly Cast? The
Constitutionality of the National VoterRegistration Act of 1993," 22 Journal ofLegislation 45 (1996 ) . He is a member of theSan Diego County Bar Association 's AppellateCourt Commi ttee . He was admi tted to theState Bar of California in 1995 .
JONAH H. GOLDSTEIN is a partner with LerachCoughlin. Mr. Goldstein was a partner withMilberg Weiss priorto joining the Firm in 2004 .Formerly, Mr . Goldstein was an Assistant U .S .Attorney for the Southern District ofCalifornia, where he tried 13 jury trials(including a seven-defendant 11 week trial),and briefed and argued appeals before theNinth Circuit Court of Appeals .
In 1991, Mr . Goldstein received his Bachelor ofArts degree in political science from DukeUniversity . He received his Juris Doctor degreefrom the University of Denver College of Lawin 1995, where he was the Notes & CommentsEditor of the University of Denver Law Review .Following graduation from law school, Mr .Goldstein served as a law clerk for theHonorable William H . Erickson on the ColoradoSupreme Court .
Mr. Goldstein is admitted to practice inColorado (1995) and California (1997) .
SHAWN A. WiuiAms earned his Bachelor ofArts degree in English from the StateUniversity of New York at Albany in 1991 . Heearned his Juris Doctor degree from theUniversity of Illinois College of Law in 1995 .Upon graduation from law school, he served asan Assistant District Attorney in the ManhattanDistrict Attorney's Office (1995-2000) where hespent four years in the trial divisionprosecuting all levels of street crimes and oneyear conducting white collar fraudinvestigations .
Mr. Williams worked for Milberg Weiss forfour years and was a partner before joiningLerach Coughlin in 2004. Mr. Williams'practice focuses on class action securities fraud
matters. He is admitted to practice in all courtsof the State of New York, including the U .S .
District Courts for the Southern and EasternDistricts of New York. Mr. Williams is alsoadmitted to practice in all courts of the Stateof California and the United States Court ofAppeals for the Ninth Circuit .
JOSEPH D . DALEY received his Bachelor of Artsdegree from Jacksonville University, and hisJuris Doctor degree from the University of SanDiego School of Law. He was a member of theUSD Appellate Moot Court Board (1995-96),and has received several awards for writtenand oral advocacy, including: Order of theBarristers, Roger J . Traynor Constitutional LawMoot Court Team (Best Advocate Award);Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot CourtTeam (United States National Champions, FirstPlace Regional Team); USD Alumni Torts MootCourt Competition (First Place Overall and BestBrief) ; the USD Jessup International Law MootCourt Competition (First Place Overall and BestBrief), and the American Jurisprudence Awardin Professional Responsibility .
Mr. Daley edited the award-winning FederalBar Association Newsletter (San Diego chapter)in the Year 2000, and served as the Year 2000Chair of San Diego's Co-Operative FederalAppellate Committees ("COFACS') . Mr. Daleyco-authored with Susan S. Gonick TheNonretroactivity of the Private SecuritiesLitigation Reform Act of 1995, 25 Sec.Regulation L.J . 60 (1997); reprinted in 3 Sec.Reform Act Litig . Rep. 258 (1997) and 25 RICOL. Rep. 819 (1997) .
Mr. Daley was admitted to the California Bar in1996, and is admitted to practice before theU .S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern,Eastern, and Central Districts of California, aswell as before the U .S. Courts of Appeals forthe Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh,Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits .
Mr. Daley's practice concentrates on federalappeals. Prior to joining Lerach Coughlin in
2004, Mr. Daley was a partner at MilbergWeiss .
DOUGLAS R. BRITTON was born in Los Angeles,California, in 1968. Mr. Britton received hisB .B .A. from Washburn University in Topeka,Kansas in 1991 and his Juris Doctor degree,cum laude, from Pepperdine University LawSchool in 1996. Mr. Britton was admitted tothe Nevada Bar in 1996 and to the CaliforniaBar in 1997 and is admitted to practice in all ofthe state courts in California, as well as the U .S.District Courts for the Northern, Southern,Eastern, and Central Districts of California . Mr .Britton has been litigating securities classaction lawsuits since his admission to the Bar in1996 .
ELLEN A. GUSIKOFF STEWART was born in NewYork, New York in 1964. She received herBachelor of Arts degree in Economics fromMuhlenberg College in 1986, and her JurisDoctor degree from Case Western ReserveUniversity in 1989 . Mrs. Stewart was admittedto the California bar in 1989, and is admittedto practice before all federal courts inCalifornia, the Sixth and Ninth Circuit Courts ofAppeals and the Western District of Michigan .
Mrs. Stewart currently practices in the firm'ssettlement department, negotiating anddocumenting the firm's complex securities,merger and consumer privacy class andderivative actions . Notably, these settlementsinclude, In re Vesta Ins. Group, Inc. Sec. Litig.,(N.D. Ala . 2002) ($78 million recovery, to date);In re Prison RealtySec. Litig ., (M.D. Tenn. 2001)(over $140 million in cash and stock) ; Stanley v.Safeskin Corp., (S.D . Ca. 2003) ($55 millionrecovery) ; In re Wisconsin Energy DerivativeLitig., (Milwaukee County Circuit Court) .
A. RICK ATwoOD, JR. prosecutes securities classactions, merger-related class actions, andshareholder derivative suits at both the trialand appellate levels . He has successfullyrepresented shareholders in federal and statecourts in numerous jurisdictions, includin g
Alabama, California, Colorado, Delaware,Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, New York, NewJersey, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, SouthDakota, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Washingtonand Washington, D .C.
Mr. Atwood was born in Nashville, Tennesseein 1965 . In 1987, he received a Bachelor ofArts degree (with honors) in Political Sciencefrom the University of Tennessee at Knoxville .He received a Bachelor of Arts, with greatdistinction in Philosophy from the KatholiekeUniversiteit Leuven in Leuven, Belgium in 1988 .He received his Juris Doctor in 1991 fromVanderbilt University Law School, where heserved as Authorities Editor on the VanderbiltJournal of Transnational Law .
Mr. Atwood was admitted to the California Barin 1991, and is licensed to practice before theUnited States District Courts for the Southern,Central and Northern Districts of California .Prior to joining Lerach Coughlin, Mr. Atwoodpracticed in the San Diego office of MilbergWeiss, and before that was an associate in theLos Angeles office of Brobeck Phleger &Harrison LLP .
JONATHAN E . BEHAR was born in Los Angeles in1968. In 1991, Mr . Behar received his Bachelorof Arts degree in English Literature from theUniversity of California at Santa Barbara, withhigh honors and his Juris Doctor degree fromthe University of San Diego School of Law in1994. He is admitted to the State Bar ofCalifornia (1994) and the Southern and CentralDistricts of California (1998 and 2000respectively) . Prior to joining Lerach Coughlin,Mr. Behar practiced law with Milberg Weissfrom 1994 to 2004 .
As a partner at the Firm, Mr. Behar currentlypractices in the areas of securities,environmental and consumer litigation. Whileat Milberg Weiss, Mr. Behar was activelyinvolved in the prosecution of two ofCalifornia's seminal tobacco cases, Mangini v.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the "Joe
Camel" case, as well as Cordova v. LiggettGroup, Inc., et al ., which alleged a 40 yearconspiracy by the United States tobaccomanufacturers .
AMBER L. ECK graduated from PepperdineUniversity, magna cum laude, with a Bachelorof Arts degree in 1990. Upon graduation, sheworked for two years at a Los Angeles legalnewspaper, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise .Ms. Eck then attended Boston UniversitySchool of Law, graduating magna cum laude in1995. At B.U., Ms. Eck was a member of theGiles Sutherland Rich Intellectual PropertyMoot Court Team which received honors forBest Brief in the Northeast Region . Inaddition, she served as Case and Note Editorfor the B.U . International Law Journal andChapter Justice for Phi Alpha Delta .
Ms. Eck practiced law with Milberg Weiss from1997 to 2004, before joining Lerach Coughlin .Her practice focuses on the prosecution ofsecurities class actions and shareholderderivative suits. In addition, Ms. Eck receivedthe Wiley W. Manuel pro bono service awardin 1999 and the Distinguished Service Award in2002 from the County of San Diego for probono service. Ms. Eck is a member of theCalifornia (1995) and Nevada (1996) bars, andis admitted to practice before the UnitedStates District Courts for all districts in bothjurisdictions . She served on the Board ofDirectors for the Barristers Club of San Diego(1996-1997), and is a member of the AmericanInns of Court, Enright Chapter.
DENNIS J. HERMAN is a 1992 graduate ofStanford Law School, where he received theOrder of the Coif and the Urban A. SontheimerAward for graduating second in his class .Mr. Herman practiced law with Milberg Weissfrom 2002 to 2004, where he specialized insecurities class action litigation on behalf ofdefrauded investors . Mr. Herman is activelyinvolved in the firm's on-going prosecution ofsecurities fraud class actions, including thosenow pending against VeriSign Corp . and The
Coca-Cola Company, Inc . He has alsoparticipated in the successful prosecution ofnumerous other securities fraud claims thathave resulted in substantial recoveries forinvestors, including recent actions filed againstNorthWestern Corp . (recovery in excess of$40 million), Specialty Laboratories, Inc .($12 million recovery), Electro-ScientificIndustries, Inc . ($9 million), and CommtouchSoftware, Inc. ($15 million recovery) .Mr. Herman also recently concluded thesuccessful representation of the estate of abankrupt company in lawsuits against itsformer officers and outside auditor seekingrecovery for actions that deepened thecompany's insolvency before it went bankrupt .
NANCY M. JUDA specializes in employee
benefits law and works in the firm's
Institutional Investor Department. Ms. Juda
received her Juris Doctor degree fromAmerican University in 1992 and herundergraduate degree from St . LawrenceUniversity in 1988.
Prior to joining Lerach Coughlin, Ms . Juda wasemployed by the United Mine Workers ofAmerica Health & Retirement Funds, where shebegan her practice in the area of employeebenefits law. Ms. Juda was also associatedwith union-side labor law firms in Washington,D.C., where she represented the trustees ofTaft-Hartley pension and welfare funds onqualification, compliance, fiduciary andtransactional issues under ERISA and theInternal Revenue Code .
Using her extensive experience representingunion pension funds, Ms . Juda advises Taft-Hartley fund trustees regarding their optionsfor seeking redress for losses due to securitiesfraud. Ms. Juda currently advises trustees offunds providing benefits for members ofunions affiliated with the Building andConstruction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, including funds sponsored by the
Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons
International Association of America and
Canada, International Union of Painters andAllied Trades, United Union of Roofers,Waterproofers and Allied Workers andInternational Union of Elevator Constructors .Ms. Juda also represents workers in ERISA classactions involving breach of fiduciary dutyclaims against corporate plan sponsors andfiduciaries .
Ms. Juda is licensed to practice in Ma ry land(1992 ) and the District of Columbia (1995). Sheis a member of the National CoordinatingCommittee for Multi-Employer Plans, theInternational Foundation of Employee BenefitPlans , the Employee Benefits Committee of theAmerican Bar Association 's Section of Laborand Employment Law, and the AFL-CIOLawyers' Coordinating Commi ttee.
Ms. Juda is the editor of the Firm's quarterlynewsletter, Taking Action -Fighting CorporateCorruption.
JEFFREY D. LIGHT was born in Los Angeles,California in 1964. He received his Bachelor ofScience degree from San Diego State Universityin 1987 and his Juris Doctor degree from theUniversity of San Diego in 1991 cum laude.Mr. Light was the recipient of the AmericanJurisprudence Award in Constitutional Law.He served as law clerk to the Honorable LouiseDeCarl Adler, U .S. Bankruptcy Court and theHonorable James Meyers, Chief Judge,Southern District of California, United StatesBankruptcy Court. Mr. Light practiced lawwith Milberg Weiss from 1994 to 2004, beforejoining Lerach Coughlin. He was admitted tothe California bar in 1992 and is admitted topractice before all federal courts in California .
Mr. Light is also a member of the San DiegoCounty Bar Association and is on the AttorneyFee Arbitration Panel . Mr. Light currentlypractices in the firm's settlement department,negotiating, documenting and obtaining courtapproval of the firm's complex securities,merger, consumer and derivative actions .
These sett lements include : In re AT&T Corp.Sec. Litig . (D.N.J . 2005) ($ 100 million recovery) ;In re Infonet Corp. Sec. Litig . (C.D. Cal. 2004)($18 million recovery) and In re Ashworth, Inc.Sec. Litig. (S.D. Cal . 2004) ($15.250 million
recovery) .
OF COUNSEL
LEONARD B. SIMON is admitted to practice inCalifornia, New York, and the District ofColumbia .
Mr. Simon's practice has been devoted heavilyto litigation in the federal courts, includingboth the prosecution and the defense of majorclass actions and other complex litigation inthe securities and antitrust fields. He hasargued more than 20 appeals in the federaland state courts of appeal . He has alsorepresented large, publicly tradedcorporations .
Mr. Simon served as plaintiffs' co-lead counselin In re American Continental Corp./LincolnSav. & Loan Sec. Litig., MDL 834 (D. Ariz.)(settled for $240 million), and In re NASDAQMarket-Makers Antitrust Litig., MDL
1023(S.D.N.Y.) (settled for more than onebillion dollars). He is currently in a leadershipposition in the private Microsoft AntitrustLitig ., and in the California Utilities AntitrustLitig . . He was centrally involved in theprosecution of In re Washington Public PowerSupply System Sec. Litig., MDL 551(D. Ariz .),the largest securities class action ever litigated .
Mr. Simon is an Adjunct Professor of Law atDuke University, the University of San Diego,and the University of Southern California lawschools. He has lectured extensively onsecurities, antitrust and complex litigation onprograms sponsored by the ABA Section ofLitigation, the Practising Law Institute, andALI-ABA, and at UCLA Law School, Universityof San Diego Law School, and StanfordBusiness School . He is an editor of CaliforniaFederal Court Practice, and has authored a law
review article on the Private SecuritiesLitigation Reform Act of 1995 .
Mr. Simon received his Bachelor of Arts degreefrom Union College in 1970 and his JurisDoctor degree from Duke University School ofLaw, Order of the Coif and with distinction, in1973 . He served as law clerk to the HonorableIrving Hill, U .S. District Judge for the CentralDistrict of California, in 1973-74 .
BYRON S . GEORGIOu received his A .B. withgreat distinction, with honors in SocialThought and Institutions, in 1970 fromStanford University, attending on an Alfred P .Sloan full academic scholarship. After a yearco-founding and teaching 7th and 8th gradersat the Mariposa School, which has thrived for35 years as an alternative primary throughmiddle school in rural Mendocino County, heattended Harvard Law School, graduatingmagna cum laude in 1974. He was admitted tothe California Bar in 1974 and served for oneyear as law clerk to the Honorable Robert F .Peckham, Chief Judge of the U .S. District Courtfor the Northern District of California . He is amember of the bar of the U .S. Supreme Court,the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuitand the U.S. District Courts for the Northern,Eastern, Central and Southern Districts ofCalifornia .
Mr. Georgiou se rved from 1975 to 1980 invarious capacities with the CaliforniaAgricultural Labor Relations Board , defendingthe constitutionality of the law up through theU.S. and California Supreme Courts andprosecuting unfair labor practice casesenforcing the collective bargaining rights offarmworkers, who had been excluded fromcoverage under the National Labor RelationsAct .
From 1980 to 1983, Mr. Georgiou served asLegal Affairs Secretary to California GovernorEdmund G . Brown Jr ., responsible for litigationby and against the Governor, judicialappointments, liaison with the Attorney
General, Judiciary and State Bar, legal adviceto the Governor and members of his Cabinet,and exercise of the Governor's powers ofextradition and clemency .
From 1983 to 1994, he was Managing Partnerand co-founder of the San Diego law firm ofGeorgiou, Tosdal, Levine & Smith, engaged ina general civil practice, with emphasis onlitigation, appearances before executive andlegislative governmental bodies, andrepresentation of labor organizations andtheir members, including contract negotiationsand enforcement for many California publicand private sector unions .
In 1994, he co-founded and served as Presidentof American Partners Capital Group,specializing in serving the needs ofinstitutional investors through capitalformation programs in a variety of alternativeasset categories.
In 1981 Mr. Georgiou was honored as PublicOfficial of the Year by the California TrialLawyers Association and served as Chair of theGovernor's Task Force on Alcohol, Drugs andTraffic Safety, one of the nation's first vehiclesfor enacting tough drunk driver legislationsponsored by the Mothers Against DrunkDriving (MADD) .
Since affiliating with Milberg Weiss in 2000and continuing with Lerach Coughlin, Mr .Georgiou serves as the primary liaison with anumber of the firm's principal institutionalclients and is actively involved in the historiclitigations seeking recoveries for defraudedinvestors in Enron, Dynegy, AOL Time Warnerand WorldCom.
SANDRA STEIN received a Bachelor of Sciencedegree from the University of Pennsylvaniaand a Juris Doctor degree from TempleUniversity Law School . She is a member of thePennsylvania and Washington, D .C. bars. Ms .Stein specializes in securities class actionlitigation, legislative law, and antitrust
litigation. She served as counsel to U .S .Senator Arlen Specter and to the U .S. Institutefor Law and Economic Policy, a think tankwhich develops policy positions on selectedissues involving the administration of justicewithin the American Legal System. In addition,Ms. Stein served on the Board of Advisors ofthe Annenberg Institute of Public Service atthe University of Pennsylvania . Ms. Stein wasthe recipient of the National Federation ofRepublican Women's "Best of America" Awardand has been honored by the White House,California State Senate, and California StateAssembly for civic leadership .
In a unique partnership with her daughter,Attorney Laura Stein, a former associate ofMilberg Weiss, the Steins served as two of thetop asset recovery experts in the firm . TheSteins focus on maximizing profits andminimizing losses to shareholders due tocorporate fraud and breaches of fiduciaryduty. They also seek to deter future violationsof federal and state securities laws byreinforcing the standards of good corporat egovernance .
Ms . Stein has been active in a number oforganizations, including the NationalAssociation of Shareholder and ConsumerAttorneys (NASCAT), National Association ofState Treasurers (NAST), the AFL-CIO LawyersCoordinating Committee, the NationalCoordinating Committee for multi-employerPlans (NCCMP), the International Foundationfor Employer Benefit Plans (IFEBP) amongothers .
Ms. Stein recently addressed the NationalAssociation of Auditors , Controllers andTreasurers on the subject of corporategovernance and its role as a positive force infuture class action securities sett lements. Shehas also spoken before numerous AFL-CIOconventions and dozens of public and multi-employer pension funds .
ELISABETH A. BOWMAN is part of LerachCoughlin's in-house graphics group whichcreates visual and audio aids to help explaincomplex cases and legal theories in a succinctand understandable way . Ms. Bowman's eightyears as a criminal defense trial attorney andher former experience in the graphic artscombine to make her exceptionally well suitedto produce persuasive legal graphics at everystage of litigation and at trial . Before joiningLerach Coughlin, Ms. Bowman practiced lawwith Milberg Weiss for six years, during whichtime she assisted in the trials of: Long v. WellsFargo Co., et al., Yourish v. CaliforniaAmplifier, et al., In re Helionetics, Inc. Sec.Litig., and Schwartz v. Visa, et al.
Since joining the Firm in 2004 , Ms. Bowmanassisted in the trials of : Douglas Shooker, et al.v. Gary Winnick, et al., and In re AT&T Corp .Sec. Litig.
Ms. Bowman received her B .F.A. from theUniversity of Alaska at Anchorage in 1986,where she majored in Fine Arts andPsychology . While a student at the U of A, shereceived a grant from the Ford Foundation toparticipate in the artists in residency programat the Visual Arts Center, Alaska . Ms. Bowmanreceived her Juris Doctor degree from theUniversity of San Diego in 1989. During thesummer of 1987, she attended USD's Instituteon International and Comparative Law inOxford, England .
Ms . Bowman was in private practice as acriminal defense attorney for eight years,handling both trials and appeals in state andfederal courts. Ms. Bowman is a member ofVolunteers in Parole, an organization based onthe Big Brothers' paradigm, in which attorneysare matched with parolees from the CaliforniaYouth Authority in an effort to offer positivementoring . She also served on VIP's local andstate-wide boards .
Ms. Bowman is a member of the California bar(1990), and is admi tted to the Supreme Court
of the State of California, the U .S. DistrictCourt for the Southern District of California,the U .S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,and the Supreme Court of the United States .
JAMES CAPUTO has focused his practice on theprosecution of complex litigation involvingsecurities fraud and corporate misfeasance,consumer actions, unfair business practices,contamination and toxic torts, andemployment and labor law violations . He hassuccessfully served as lead or co-lead counsel innumerous class and consumer actions litigationmatters, including, for example : In re S3 Sec.Litig ., Case No. CV770003 (Cal . Super. Ct ., SantaClara County); Santiago v. Kia Motors America,Case No. 010001438 (Cal . Super. Ct., OrangeCounty); 0988 MJJ (N .D. Cal .) ; In re Fleming Co.Sec. Litigation, No. 5:02-CV-178 (TJW) (E.D.Tex.) ; In re Capstead Mortgage Corp. Sec.Litig ., No. 3:98-CV-1716 (N.D. Tex.) ; In reValence Tech. Sec. Litig., C95-20459 (JW)(EAI)(N.D. Cal .) ; In re THQ, Inc. Sec. Litig., MasterFile No. CV-00-01783-JFW (C .D. Cal .); and in reICN Pharm . Corp. Sec. Litig., No. CV-98-02433(C.D. Cal .) .
Mr. Caputo was formerly a partner at SpectorRoseman & Kodroff and Milberg Weiss.During the latter tenure, he was one of thetrial counsels in the year-long trial of Newmanv. Stringfellow, a toxic exposure case involvingnearly 4,000 plaintiffs. That case ultimatelysettled for approximately $110 million. Morerecently, he was co-trial counsel in anemployment law class action against Taco Bell,which settled for $14 million.
Mr. Caputo received a Bachelor of Sciencedegree from the University of Pittsburgh in1970 and a Masters degree from the Universityof Iowa in 1975 . In 1984, he received his JurisDoctor degree magna cum laude fromCalifornia Western School of Law, where heserved as editor-in-chief of the InternationalLaw Journal. He also clerked for PresidingJustice Daniel J . Kremer of the California Courtof Appeal from 1985 to 1987 and to Associat e
Justice Don R . Work of the California Court ofAppeal from 1984 to 1985. He has co-authored : "No Single Cause: JuvenileDelinquency and the Search for EffectiveTreatment" (1985) and authored Comment,Equal Right of Access in Matters ofTransboundary Pollution: Its Prospects inIndustrial and Developing Countries, 14 Cal .West. Intl . L. J . 192 (1984). Mr. Caputo has alsonumerous presentations to various legal andprofessional groups regarding complex andclass action litigation .
He is admitted to practice in the State ofCalifornia and the U .S. District Courts for theSouthern, Central and Northern Districts ofCalifornia as well as numerous otherjurisdictions . Mr. Caputo is a member of theSan Diego County and American BarAssociations, the Consumer Attorneys ofCalifornia, and the Association of Trial Lawyersof America .
MITCHELL D . GRAvo is the sole owner of TheLaw Offices of Mitchell D. Gravo, Inc.specializing in lobbying and governmentrelations. The firm represents clients beforethe Alaska Congressional delegation, theAlaska Legislature, the Alaska StateGovernment and the Municipality ofAnchorage.
Mr. Gravo attended Ohio State University as anundergraduate before attending the Universityof San Diego School of Law. He came toAlaska in 1977, served briefly as an intern withthe Municipality of Anchorage and thenclerked a year for Superior Court Judge J .Justin Ripley. After his clerkship with JudgeRipley, he went back to the work for theMunicipality of Anchorage, where ,he firstserved as the executive assistant to theMunicipal Manager and then as the firstlobbyist for the then Mayor of Anchorage,George M . Sullivan. Mitch has been describedas one of the "top lobbyists in the state" byAlaska's major daily newspaper, TheAnchorage Daily News.
The legislative clients of the firm include theAnchorage Economic DevelopmentCorporation, the Anchorage Convention andVisitors Bureau, UST Public Affairs, Inc ., theInternational Brotherhood of ElectricalWorkers, Alaska Seafood International,Distilled Spirits Council of America, RIMArchitects, Anchorage Police DepartmentEmployees Association, Fred Meyer, and theAutomobile Manufacturer's Association .
JACQUI E. MOTIEK received her Bachelor ofScience degree in Government and Politics,cum laude from the University of Maryland,College Park, Maryland in 1979 . Ms. Mottekobtained her Juris Doctor degree in 1986 fromthe University of San Francisco School of Law,where she was a recipient of the AmericanJurisprudence Award in Constitutional Lawand a member of the University of SanFrancisco's Law Review .
Ms. Mottek was associated with the law firmBrobeck Phleger & Harrison from 1987 to 1994 .In 1994, Ms. Mottek served as sole chair in ajury trial resulting in a verdict in favor of herclients of $1 million . In 1994, Ms. Mottekbecame a partner with the firm Lieff CabraserHeimann & Bernstein specializing in plaintiffs'class actions with an emphasis on consumerfraud litigation and other complex businesslitigation for plaintiffs . She successfullyprosecuted a certified class action on behalf ofphysicians who provided medical services to ofBlue Cross of California HMO members . She isthe author of "The Impact of ClasswideArbitration on Mandatory Arbitration," Vol . 1,No. 13, Class Action Litigation Report (October27, 2000) .
Prior to joining Lerach Coughlin in 2004, Ms.Mottek prosecuted consumer fraud classactions. She serves as co-lead counsel inseveral consumer class actions, including TenetHealthCare Cases Il, JCCP 4285, pending beforethe Los Angeles Superior Court, and as co-leadcounsel and a member of the executivecommittee of the Cellphone Termination Fees
Litigation, JCCP 4332, pending before theSuperior Court of Alameda County . She is alsoa senior litigator in Spielholz v. LA Cellular,lnc, . Case No . BC186787 (resulting in thepublished opinion Spielholz v. Superior Court,86 Cal . App. 4th 1866 (2001 ), granting apetition for a writ of mandamus she drafted ina question of first impression in California) ; inthe matters coordinated before the federalcourt in the Northern District of Illinois, styledIn re Owen Federal Bank Mortgage ServicingLitig., MDL No . 1604 and as counsel in Paton v.Cingular Wireless, Case No . CGC-04-428855, inthe Superior Cou rt of San Francisco .
L. THoMAS GALLowAY received a Bachelor ofArts degree in History/Latin from Florida StateUniversity and received his Juris Doctor degreefrom the University of Virginia Law School in1972, where he was a member of the EditorialBoard of the University of Virginia Law Review .
Mr. Galloway is the founding partner ofGalloway & Associates, a law firm specializingin the representation of institutional investors- namely, public and multi-employer pensionfunds .
Mr. Galloway has authored several books andarticles, including : "The American Response toRevolutionary Change: A Study of DiplomaticRecognition" (AEI Institute 1978) ; "America'sEnergy: Reports from the Nation" (Pantheon1980); Contributor, "Coal Treatise" (MatthewBender 1981); Contributor, "Mining and theEnvironment: A Comparative Analysis ofSurface Mining in Germany, Great Britain,Australia, and the United States," 4 Harv .Envtl . L . Rev. 261 (Spring 1980); "A Miner's Billof Rights," 80 W. Va. L. Rev. 397 (1978); andContributor, "Golden Dreams, PoisonedStreams" (Mineral Policy Center WashingtonD .C. 1997) .
Unlimited, National Audubon Society, NaturalResources Defense Council, German MarshalFund, Northern Cheyenne Indian Tribe andCouncil of Energy Resource Tribes . He is amember of the District of Columbia andColorado State Bars .
JERRILYN HARDAWAY, in the Houston EnronTrial office, is a seventh-generation Texan whogrew up in Greenville and graduated fromTexas A&M with three undergraduate degrees-English, Psychology and Applied Mathematics .She was a Fulbright Scholar, studying Italianarchitecture and writing a prize-winningarticle on international trade relations .Despite her primarily liberal arts education shewas really only interested in computers,focusing on software development forvertically integrated markets, which led to aninterest in antitrust law . She graduated in1993 from the University of Houston LawCenter, where she was a member of theHouston Journal of International Law. Sheworked alongside renowned class-actionattorney Charles Kipple for the next eightyears, assisting as lead counsel or co-leadcounsel in several complex anti-trust casesthrough 1999, including MDL1206, In re: LeaseOil Antitrust Litig. in the Southern District ofTexas, Corpus Christi Division . After travelingand living abroad for three years, she returnedto Houston and, in March 2002, was asked to"build a simple database, probably won't takelonger than the summer ." Now, more thantwo years later, her Enron databases managemore than 100 million documents and shesupervises two teams of litigation- supportspecialists. Jerri is a frequent speaker andauthor on electronic discovery and developingissues in technology and the law . She speaksseveral languages, which helps because shevery much enjoys traveling .
Mr. Galloway represents and/or provides SPECIAL COUNSEL
consulting services for the following: NationalWildlife Federation, Sierra Club, Friends of the SUSAN K. ALEXANDER graduated with honors
Earth, United Mine Workers of America, Trout from Stanford University in 1983 and earnedher J.D . from the University of California at Lo s
Angeles in 1986 . Ms. Alexander joined theAppellate Practice Group at Lerach Coughlin in2004 after working with Milberg Weiss in SanFrancisco for four years .
Following her admission to the California Barin 1986, Ms. Alexander joined Bronson,Bronson & McKinnon, where she litigatedprofessional malpractice and product liabilitycases on behalf of attorneys, doctors andautomobile manufacturers, second-chairingtwo dental malpractice cases to a defenseverdict . In 1990, Ms. Alexander joined theCalifornia Appellate Project ("CAP"), whereshe prepared appeals and petitions for writs ofhabeas corpus on behalf of individualssentenced to death, as well as supervisingprivate attorneys in their preparation ofappeals and habeas corpus petitions . At CAPand subsequently in private practice, Ms.Alexander litigated and consulted on deathpenalty direct and collateral appeals for 10years, including favorable decisions in theCalifornia Supreme Court, In re Brown, 17 Cal .4th 873 (1998) and the Ninth Circuit Odle v.
Woodford, 238 F.3d 1084 (9th Cir . 2001). AtMilberg Weiss, Ms. Alexander has arguedShuster v. Symmetricom, Inc. and Wilkes v.Versant Object Tech. Corp . in the Ninth Circuit,and will argue Pirraglia v. Novell, Inc. in theTenth Circuit .
Ms. Alexander is a member of the bar of theU.S. Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court ofAppeals, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals,U.S. District Court, Northern, Central, Easternand Southern Districts of California, and theCalifornia Supreme Court . Ms. Alexander isalso a member of the Federal Bar Association,Appellate Division and the Appellate PracticeSection of the Bar Association of San Francisco .
FORENSIC ACCOUNTANTS
ANDREW J . RUDOLPH is a Certified FraudExaminer and a Certified Public Accountantlicensed to practice in California . He is anactive member of the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants, California'sSociety of Certified Public Accountants and theAssociation of Certified Fraud Examiners . His20 years of public accounting, consulting andforensic accounting experience includesfinancial fraud investigation, auditormalpractice, auditing of public and privatecompanies, business litigation consulting, duediligence investigations and taxation. Mr.Rudolph is the National Director of LerachCoughlin's Forensic Accounting Departmentwhich provides the firm with in-house forensicaccounting expertise in connection withsecurities fraud litigation against national andforeign companies. Prior to joining LerachCoughlin in 2004, Mr. Rudolph was theDirector of Forensic Accounting for the lawfirm of Milberg Weiss for 12 years . Mr.Rudolph has given numerous lectures andassisted with articles on forensic investigationsand financial statement fraud . Mr. Rudolphhas directed hundreds of financial statementfraud investigations which were instrumentalin the recovery of billions of dollars fordefrauded investors. Prominent cases includeQwest, HealthSouth, WorldCom, Boeing,Honeywell, Vivendi, Aurora Foods, Informixand Platinum Software.
CHRISTOPHER YURCEK is of the firm's seniorforensic accountants and provides in-houseforensic accounting and litigation expertise inconnection with major securities fraudlitigation. Mr. Yurcek is a Certified PublicAccountant with 19 years of accounting,forensic examination and consultingexperience in areas including financialstatement audit, fraud investigation, auditormalpractice, turn-around consulting, businesslitigation, and business valuation . Mr. Yurcekis currently responsible for overseeing thefirm's forensic accounting investigation in In reEnron Corp. Sec. Litig . Prior to joining LerachCoughlin, Mr. Yurcek provided in-houseforensic accounting expertise to Milberg Weisswhere he directed accounting investigations inconnection with well-publicized recentsecurities fraud litigation including cases suc h
as Enron, Vesta, Informix, Mattel, Coca ColaCompany and Media Vision . Mr. Yurcek'sexperience included providing forensicaccounting expertise to bankruptcy trustees,and audit and accounting services at a nationalCPA firm . Mr. Yurcek speaks at professionalaccounting seminars on topics such as financialstatement fraud and fraud prevention, and hasco-authored articles on the subjects. Mr.Yurcek is a member of the American Instituteof Certified Public Accountants, and theCalifornia Society of CPAs .
R. STEVEN ARONICA is a Certified PublicAccountant licensed in the States of New Yorkand Georgia and is a member of the AmericanInstitute of Certified Public Accountants, theInstitute of Internal Auditors and theAssociation of Certified Fraud Examiners . Hehas been employed in the practice ofaccounting for 25 years, including : (1) publicaccounting where he was responsible forproviding clients with a wide range ofaccounting and auditing services; (2) privateaccounting with Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc .where he held positions with accounting andfinancial reporting responsi-bilities, mostrecently as a Vice President; (3) variouspositions with the United States Securities andExchange Commission; and (4) the chiefforensic accountant in the New York office ofMilberg Weiss. Mr. Aronica has extensiveexperience in securities regulation andlitigation. At the SEC, Mr. Aronica reviewedand analyzed financial statements and relatedfinancial disclosures contained in public filingsfor compliance with generally acceptedaccounting principles, generally acceptedauditing standards, and the accounting andauditing rules, regulations and policies of theSEC. Mr. Aronica was also an EnforcementDivision Branch Chief, responsible formanaging a group of investigators andaccountants who initiated, developed andexecuted numerous investigations involvingfinancial fraud, accounting improprieties andaudit failures . During his seven-year tenure athe SEC, Mr. Aronica was responsible for
directing and investigating a complex, Mr .Aronica has been instrumental in theprosecution of numerous financial andaccounting fraud civil litigation claims againstcompanies which include : Lucent Technologies,Oxford Health Plans, Computer Associates,Aetna , WorldCom , Tyco, Vivendi, AOL TimeWarner, Ikon, Thomas & Betts, InaCom andRoyal Ahold . In addition, Mr. Aronica helpedprosecute numerous claims against each of themajor U . S. public accounting firms.
