Wolf Haldenstein is one of the most prominent class action firms in the world. Our Class Action Litigation Group has been recognized by courts throughout the country as effective and experienced in securities, consumer, ERISA and antitrust class actions and shareholder rights litigation. The Class Action Litigation Group currently consists of approximately 35 attorneys and 10 paraprofessional assistants.
One special thing about Wolf Haldenstein is that the attorneys from other areas of the firm's practice -- such as tax, bankruptcy, corporate, real estate, trusts, labor, and ERISA law -- lend their expertise to the Firm's class action litigators. The support of expert practitioners in such varied areas of the law greatly enhances the strength and efficiency of the Firm's representative litigation practice, and makes Wolf Haldenstein unique among national firms specializing in class action litigation.
In addition to numerous securities fraud and other investor class actions, Wolf Haldenstein has represented classes of corn farmers in connection with the devaluation of their crops; contact lens purchasers for manufacturers' violations of the antitrust laws; merchants compelled to accept certain types of debit cards; insurance policyholders for insurance companies' deceptive sales practices; victims of unlawful strip searches under the civil rights laws; and various cases involving violations of internet users' on-line privacy rights.
Our experience in class action securities litigation is particularly extensive. The firm has been lead or primary counsel in securities class action cases that have recouped billions of dollars on behalf of investor classes, in stockholder rights class actions that have resulted in billions of dollars in increased merger consideration to shareholder classes, and in derivative litigation that has recovered billions of dollars for corporations and limited partnerships.
Judicial comments over two decades reflect the high regard in which the firm is held:
In In Re Dynamic Random Access Memory Antitrust Litigation, MDL-02-1486 (N.D. Cal.) -- where the Firm was co-lead counsel, Judge Hamilton said (on August 15, 2007), "I think I can conclude on the basis with my five years with you all, watching this litigation progress and seeing it wind to a conclusion, that the results are exceptional. The percentages, as you have outlined them, do put this [case] in one of the upper categories of results of this kind of [antitrust] class action. I am aware of the complexity . . . I thought that you all did an exceptionally good job of bringing to me only those matters that really required the Court's attention. You did an exceptionally good job at organizing and managing the case, assisting me in management of the case. There was excellent coordination between all the various different plaintiffs' counsel with your group and the other groups that are part of this litigation. . . . So my conclusion is the case was well litigated by both sides, well managed as well by both sides."
In In re Comdisco Securities Litigation, No. 01C2110 (N.D. Ill. July 14, 2005), where the firm was sole lead counsel, Judge Shadur stated that
"the efforts that have been expended on behalf of the plaintiff class in the face of these obstacles were exemplary. And in my view they reflected the kind of professionalism that the critics of class actions ... are never willing to recognize.... I really cannot speak too highly of the services rendered by class counsel [Wolf Haldenstein] in an extraordinarily difficult situation..."
In In re MicroStrategy Securities Litigation, 150 F. Supp. 2d 896, 903 (E.D. Va. 2001), where the firm was a co-lead counsel, Judge Ellis commented "Clearly, the conduct of all counsel in this case and the result they have achieved for all of the parties confirms that they deserve the national recognition they enjoy."
In Kurzweil v. Philip Morris Companies, 94 Civ. 2373, 94 Civ. 2546 (MBM) (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 13, 1998), where the firm was sole lead counsel, now Chief Judge Mukasey, in approving a $116.5 million settlement stated: "In this case, this represents a lot of good, hard, serious work by a lot of talented lawyers and I appreciate it on both sides."
In Paramount Communications v. QVC Network Inc.; In re Paramount Communications Inc. Shareholders' Litigation, 637 A.2d 34, 37 n.2 (Sup. Ct. Del. 1994), where the firm was co-lead counsel for the Paramount shareholders, the Supreme Court of Delaware noted "its appreciation of . . . the professionalism of counsel in this matter in handling this expedited litigation with the expertise and skill which characterize Delaware proceedings of this nature." The Court further "commended the parties for their professionalism in conducting expedited discovery, assembling and organizing the record, and preparing and presenting very helpful briefs, a joint appendix, and oral argument."
In In re Warner Communications Securities Litigation, 618 F. Supp. 735, 749 (S.D.N.Y. 1985), where the firm served as co-lead counsel, the court said: "'plaintiffs' counsel constitute the cream of the plaintiffs' bar.' The Court cannot find fault with that characterization."
Wolf Haldenstein is currently the Court-appointed lead counsel or co-lead counsel in some of the largest and most significant class action lawsuits and shareholder derivative actions currently pending across the United States.
Click here to review a complete listing of the Firm's pending cases.
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