Daniel Hume

• Name Maverick Neutral Levered Fund, Ltd. v. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.,
  No. 20-cv-02190 (D.N.J.).
• Type Securities
• Status Pending
• We are acting as counsel in this securities class action alleging that Valeant materially misrepresented its business model, touting artificial and unsustainable growth that was enabled by the company’s deceptive and illegal conduct. The case has important implications not only for Valeant’s shareholders, who sustained significant losses when the company’s misrepresentations were disclosed, but for corporate governance in the pharmaceutical industry as a whole, and for consumers: Valeant’s growth during the class period was driven not by “organic growth” sustained by volume increases and cost savings, but by price gouging (ex: within two days of acquiring the rights to Nitropress and Isuprel, two drugs used to treat emergency heart conditions, Valeant increased their prices by 212% and 525%, respectively).

• Name Fli-Lo Falcon Llc v. Amazon.Com Inc.,
  No. 22-cv-441 (W.D. Wash.).
• Type Corporate Governance
• Status Pending
• We are currently serving as lead counsel to a class of small package delivery companies defrauded by Amazon under its Delivery Service Partners (DSP) Program. The case alleges that the DSP program represents an unlawful scheme to shield Amazon from its responsibilities to DSPs, their drivers, and the public; minimize the risk of unionization among drivers; foist costs that Amazon would otherwise bear as an employer of drivers onto DSPs despite the fact that the drivers are functionally Amazon employees; and limit Amazon’s delivery costs by imposing policies and rules intended to prevent DSPs from achieving performance-related payments. 

• Name In re Credit Default Swaps Auctions Litigation,
  No. 21-cv-00606 (D.N.M.).
• Type Antitrust, Commodities
• Status Pending
• We are acting as lead counsel on behalf of the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office and the New Mexico State Investment Council alleging that leading credit default swap (CDS) dealers took part in a more than decade-long, multibillion-dollar scheme to manipulate the benchmark prices used to value credit default swap contracts at settlement.

• Name Doyle v. Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,
  No. 21-cv-00987 (E.D. Tex.).
• Type Securities
• Status Settled
• We are representing Wespath, the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church, in this securities class action alleging that Reata Pharmaceuticals made false and/or misleading statements — including in connection with its secondary public stock offerings — concerning, inter alia, the FDA guidance regarding the design of the clinical trial (CARDINAL) for Reata’s drug candidate, bardoxolone methyl. When the FDA revealed serious concerns it had previously raised to Reata, the share price declined materially.  The case has resulted in a settlement of $45 million.

• Name Mason-Mahon v. Flint,
  No. 602052/2014 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., Nassau Cty.).
• Type Corporate Governance, Securities
• Status Settled

• KM represented an English investor in a shareholder derivative lawsuit against officers and directors of HSBC Holdings and its subsidiaries, alleging that HSBC facilitated money laundering operations out of New York City. In a matter of first impression, we established the right of English shareholders to bring derivative claims against English companies in New York state courts. The litigation settled for $72.5 million, the then-largest foreign derivatives settlement ever reached and one of the largest insurer-funded cash payments achieved in a U.S. derivative lawsuit.

• Name In re Foreign Exchange Benchmark Rates Antitrust Litigation, 
  No. 13-cv-07789 (S.D.N.Y.).
• Type Antitrust, Commodities
• Status Settled
• Special fiduciary representation for the exchange-based class for a putative class of participants who traded futures and options in the FX market. The case has already resulted in partial settlements of more than $2.3 billion.

• Name In re MOL Global, Inc. Securities Litigation,
  No. 14-cv-09357 (S.D.N.Y.).
• Type Securities
• Status Settled
• KM acted as counsel to lead plaintiff TAP Retirement Fund in a securities fraud class action involving MOL Global, Inc.’s accounting misrepresentations. In this case, we overcame numerous challenges to our client taking the lead in the case, including: allegations that TAP was not the actual owner of the shares but was merely an investment advisor that did not have standing to bring claims; under Brunei law, a suit cannot be filed on behalf of the fund without the express permission of the Sultan of Brunei; and that a Brunei-based plaintiff cannot be the lead plaintiff because Brunei law would not recognize a judgment from a U.S. court. We convinced the court to reject these challenges as nothing more than speculation, and — before a ruling on the motion to dismiss, and with very little time and effort required from TAP — the case settled for $8.5 million for the class.

• Name Dandong v. Pinnacle Performance Ltd.,
  No. 10-cv-08086 (S.D.N.Y.). 
• Type Securities, Structured Finance
• Status Settled
• KM acted as lead counsel for a group of Singapore-based investors in a securities class action against Morgan Stanley pertaining to notes issued by Cayman Islands-registered Pinnacle Performance Ltd.  Plaintiffs alleged that Morgan Stanley routed Pinnacle investors’ principal into synthetic collateralized debt obligations (“CDOs”) which were built to fail and then bet against.  As the CDOs failed by design, plaintiffs’ principal was swapped to Morgan Stanley, enriching Morgan Stanley while rendering the Pinnacle Notes an all-but-total loss.  This case resulted in a settlement of $20 million for the class following the court’s order certifying common law fraud claims.

• Name Space Coast Credit Union v. Barclays Capital Inc.,
  No. 11-cv-02802 (S.D.N.Y.).
• Type Securities, Structured Finance
• Status Settled
• Space Coast Credit Union v. Barclays Capital Inc., No. 11-cv-02802 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).  Counsel for Plaintiff.  Parties dismissed the case following a consensual resolution.

• Name Microsoft Antitrust Cases
• Type Antitrust
• Status Settled
• Co-lead counsel on behalf of classes of indirect purchasers in connection with antitrust proceedings against Microsoft. The litigations resulted in settlements totaling nearly a billion dollars for consumers in the states of New York, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Minnesota (where the litigation proceeded to trial). More recently, KM served as consulting and advisory counsel to Canadian lead counsel based on the firm’s co-lead roles in the U.S. Microsoft cases. The Canadian action resulted in a settlement of $395 million.

• Name In re AT&T Wireless Tracking Stock Securities Litigation,
  No. 00-cv-08754 (S.D.N.Y.). 
• Type Securities
• Status Settled
• Lead counsel for a union pension fund lead plaintiff in this securities class action on behalf of investors who purchased AT&T Wireless tracking stock in an April 26, 2000 initial public offering and through May 1, 2000 on the open market.  The action asserted that the prospectus and registration statement used for the IPO misled investors about AT&T’s prospects and recent results.  The case settled for $150 million on the eve of trial.

• Name In re Visa Check/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation,
  No. 96-cv-05238 (S.D.N.Y.).
• Type Antitrust
• Status Settled
• Class counsel with second largest lodestar in a direct purchaser debit card fee case. The case resulted in a settlement of over $3 billion.

• Name Out of Court Settlement
• Type
• Status Settled
• We represented a major pension fund and a sovereign wealth fund in negotiations with a money center bank to settle the clients’ claims in a prominent securities litigation.  Dealing directly with defendants and without the need to file opt-out litigation, KM was able to procure for its clients significant settlements which represented more than 150% of the recovery they would have received should they have remained passive members of the class.  To the firm’s knowledge, these two clients are the only entities to have received a settlement premium in this matter.  KM continues to monitor the claims process to ensure everything is handled smoothly for its clients.