News: Berman Tabacco In The News

Benchmark Litigation, a publication of U.K.-based Euromoney Institutional Investor plc, has published its 2017 10th Anniversary Edition profiling U.S. law firms. Berman DeValerio is ranked as “Highly Recommended 2017” – the sixth time the firm has received such ranking from Benchmark Litigation.

Berman DeValerio’s team of over 15 walkers and bikers participated in the Justice & Diversity Center’s Walk/Bike-A-Thon fundraiser on July 30, 2016. The Berman DeValerio team was recognized as Top Fundraising Team for this event that raised nearly $20,000 to support The Justice & Diversity Center (“JDC”).

Boston Managing Partner Kathleen M. Donovan-Maher and Associate Steven L. Groopman co-authored an Op-Ed entitled “Why Dark Money Is Bad Business,” which ran in The New York Times on May 10, 2016. The Op-Ed addresses the recent debate surrounding a proposed SEC rule that would mandate disclosure of corporate political spending.

Represented by Berman DeValerio, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) reached a settlement with the credit rating agency Moody’s (defendants Moody’s Corp. and Moody’s Investors’ Services, Inc.), whereby Moody’s will pay CalPERS $130 million to settle CalPERS’ claim that “Aaa” ratings on three structured investment vehicles (SIVs) were negligent misrepresentations under California law. CalPERS previously settled with co-defendant McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. (“Standard & Poor’s” or “S&P”) for $125 million, which brings CalPERS’ total recovery in this case to $255 million.

Berman DeValerio’s Boston office sponsored its third volunteer trip to the Greater Boston Food Bank, the largest hunger-relief organization in New England. Twenty-one members of the firm spent three hours sorting pallets of food into organized relief boxes for the Greater Boston Food Bank’s network of local food pantries, shelters, and other communities in need.

A federal court has approved a $340 million settlement with six underwriters of IndyMac mortgage-backed securities (MBS) accused of misleading investors in offering documents. Berman DeValerio represented the Wyoming State Treasurer’s Office and the Wyoming Retirement System as lead plaintiffs in the case, in which investors achieved one of the largest federal class-action recoveries involving MBS purchases.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), represented by Berman DeValerio, has reached a $125 million agreement to settle its 2009 claim that rating agency Standard & Poor’s negligently misrepresented risky structured finance products as “Aaa” prior to the financial crisis.

San Francisco Managing Partner Nicole Lavallee took part in a discussion of the securities litigation landscape as part of a Securities Roundtable published recently in California Lawyer magazine.

Plaintiffs in a 2008 class action accusing Fannie Mae of violating federal securities laws have reached a $170 million preliminary settlement with Fannie Mae. Berman DeValerio is co-lead counsel in the case, representing the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM) Board.

Decades of adverse court decisions have eaten away at investors’ rights, imposing what feels like “a death by a thousand cuts” on plaintiffs seeking to sue for securities fraud, Berman DeValerio Partner Joseph J. Tabacco, Jr. told corporate governance advocates recently.

Berman DeValerio has negotiated a $340 million proposed settlement of class-action claims against six underwriters of IndyMac mortgage-backed securities who were accused of misleading investors in offering documents.