October 3, 2012

Bernstein Liebhard LLP is honored to announce that has been named to the The National Law Journal’s “Plaintiffs’ Hot List” for the tenth consecutive year.  The National Law Journal compiled this year’s list by selecting nineteen firms that are “at the cutting edge of plaintiffs’ work – and are giving defense players a run for their money.”  Of the firms named to the Hot List this year, Bernstein Liebhard is one of only two named for ten straight years.

Every year The National Law Journal examines the plaintiffs’ bar’s most successful practices and asks its readers to nominate firms that have performed exemplary, cutting-edge work.  This year, the Hot List features plaintiffs’ firms that obtained either substantial settlements or jury verdicts in the past year.  To be considered, firms needed at least one significant win and an impressive track record within the previous three to five years.

This year’s Hot List features three of the firm’s cases:

    • a partial settlement in excess of $100 million in In re Tremont Securities Law, State Law and Insurance Litigation, No. 08‑CV‑11117 (TPG) (S.D.N.Y.), in which the firm, as sole lead counsel in the Securities Actions, represents investors in the Rye Select and Tremont investment funds, which were “feeder funds” into the now-infamous multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Bernard L. Madoff.  Commenting on the settlement, Partner Jeffrey M. Haber noted that many of the cases brought against hedge funds that invested with Madoff have been dismissed, making the settlement with Tremont even more significant:  “knowing how courts around the country have been analyzing and evaluating these claims, we were able to achieve an excellent result on behalf of investors”;
    • a shareholder victory in In re Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. Shareholder Litigation, No. C.A. 7328-VCS (Del. Ch.), a class action brought on behalf of the public shareholders of Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. (“Great Wolf”) based upon an alleged attempt to sell Great Wolf to Apollo Global Management (“Apollo”) by means of an unfair process and for an inadequate price.  The firm obtained the elimination of stand-still provisions that allowed other parties to bid for Great Wolf.  During the course of the litigation, on the backdrop of their preliminary injunction application, but prior to the settlement agreement, the price for Great Wolf’s shares in the merger was increased from $5.00 to $7.85 per share (through the emergence of a third-party bidder); and
    • the firm’s representation of the Republic of Iraq in a lawsuit against more than ninety multi-national corporations in Republic of Iraq v. ABB AG, No. 08 Civ. 5951 (GEL) (S.D.N.Y.).  The complaint alleges that the corporations conspired with Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi officials to corrupt the United Nations’ Oil-for-Food Programme, a $64 billion humanitarian relief program managed by the United Nations from 1996 to 2003.  The Republic of Iraq has asserted that the companies violated, among other things, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Robinson-Patman Act, and various New York State laws.

Bernstein Liebhard LLP, established in 1993, represents institutional investors in shareholder, class and derivative litigation and plaintiffs in various types of complex litigation.  For more information, please contact Stanley D. Bernstein at (212) 779-1414 or Bernstein@bernlieb.com.