Joseph R. Seidman, Jr. has litigated complex class actions for over 25 years. Mr. Seidman has worked on numerous securities fraud cases from inception through settlement, including: City of Austin Police Retirement System v. Kinross Gold Corp., No. 12-CV-01203-VEC (S.D.N.Y.) ($33 million recovery); In re Beazer Homes U.S.A., Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 07-CV-725-CC (N.D. Ga.) ($30.5 million recovery); In re Tower Group International, Ltd. Securities Litigation, 13-CV-5852 (S.D.N.Y.) ($20.5 million settlement); In re Taser International Securities Litigation, No. C05-0115 (D. Ariz.) ($20 million recovery); Avila v. LifeLock Inc., 15-cv-01398-SRB (D. Ariz.) ($20 million); Bitar v. REV Group, Inc., Case No. 2:18-cv-1268-LA (E.D. Wisc.) ($14.25 million); In re Willbros Group, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 06-CV-1778 (S.D. Tex.) ($10.5 million recovery); In re KIT Digital, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 12-CV-4199 (S.D.N.Y.) ($6 million recovery); and Peters v. JinkoSolar Holding Ltd., 11-CV-7133 (S.D.N.Y.) ($5.05 million recovery).
Mr. Seidman was part of the team that successfully litigated an appeal before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed a dismissal of the JinkoSolar case and affirmed the materiality standard for securities actions.
Most recently, Mr. Seidman was a member of the team representing the City of Atlanta Firefighters’ Pension Fund in Speakes v. Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, LTD, 16-cv-08318-ALC (S.D.N.Y.), where the firm negotiated a $36 million settlement on behalf of investors. Mr. Seidman also helped recover $6.625 million on behalf of investors in In re IronNet Inc. Securities Litigation, 22-cv-00449 (E.D.V.A.) and $14.25 million in In re REV Group, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 2:18-CV-1268-LA (E.D. Wisc.).
Mr. Seidman has represented shareholders in derivative actions, including recovering $16 million for shareholders in a derivative action alleging that certain current and former directors of DeVry Education Group (currently known as Adtalem Global Education, Inc.) breached their fiduciary duties by allowing and approving a misleading advertising campaign. Mr. Seidman also represented one of the lead plaintiffs in In re Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc. Derivative Litigation, C.A. No. 8110-VCN (Del. Ch.), which resulted in a $153.5 million recovery that represented the second largest derivative settlement in Delaware.
Mr. Seidman represented a class of direct purchaser plaintiffs in an antitrust action, In re Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 15-MD-2670 JLS (MDD) (S.D. Cal.). The plaintiffs in Packaged Seafood alleged, inter alia, that several seafood companies illegally conspired to raise prices on various tuna products. These cases recently settled for approximately $78 million.
Currently, Mr. Seidman represents shareholders in securities class actions against Southwest Airlines Co. (Teroganesian v. Southwest Airlines Co., Civil Action No. 4:23-cv-115-DBT (S.D. Tex.)) and Rivian Automotive, Inc. (Indiana Public Retirement System v. Rivian Automotive, Inc., Case Number: 2:24-cv-04566-CBM-PVC (C.D. Cal. 2024)). In Southwest, the plaintiffs allege that Southwest and several of its executives made misrepresentations and omissions of material fact to investors concerning Southwest’s scheduling technology. In Rivian Automotive, the plaintiffs allege that Rivian and several of its executives made misrepresentations and omissions of material fact about its backlog and profitability.
