Securities Litigation

Beginning in the late 1950's and gaining momentum that continues through the present, Wolf Popper became increasingly involved in complex securities litigation. To date, the firm has successfully prosecuted hundreds of class and individual actions under federal and state securities laws on behalf of individual and institutional investors, as well as money managers. Indeed, the firm's efforts in prosecuting securities actions has resulted in recoveries for investors of more than two billion dollars.

Typically, these litigations arise out of fraudulent schemes to dupe the investing public (i.e., individuals, businesses, and money managers) into investing in public companies through the issuance of outright false or misleading statements concerning the financial condition and future prospects of such companies. These scenarios are often accompanied by the substantial selling of company stock by company insiders at prices which have been inflated by the publicly disseminated false and misleading statements.

Additionally, many state law actions, including derivative actions, arise in the context of a merger or acquisition. Specifically, mergers and acquisitions are often announced where the investors in the company being merged or acquired are offered consideration for their shares which is patently unfair and/or inadequate. Oftentime the directors and/or management of the company being merged or acquired have serious conflicts of interest which prevent them from maximizing shareholder value in such situations in breach of the fiduciary duties imposed upon them by state law. The firm has brought numerous actions on behalf of investors to insure that they receive the maximum amount of consideration to which they are entitled.

Consumer Fraud Litigation

Consumer Fraud has become an increasingly active area of practice for Wolf Popper. In general, these cases arise from the unfair business practices of large companies, which companies take advantage of unsophisticated consumers. Examples of consumer fraud actions include misrepresentations regarding the capabilities and functioning of equipment and products, "force placing" collateral protection insurance in connection with mortgages and automobile loans, so-called "vanishing premiums" contained in certain life insurance policies, improper billing practices, and false advertising. Since an individual consumer commonly is not in a financial position to undertake the expense of a litigation based on his or her claims alone, Wolf Popper prosecutes these actions as class actions on behalf of hundreds or thousands of similarly situated consumers and litigates them on a contingent fee basis.

Antitrust

Wolf Popper has an active antitrust department that has represented plaintiffs nationwide in price fixing cases and other violations of the federal antitrust laws. In a representative case, In the Matter of the Ocean Shipping Antitrust Litigation, Wolf Popper was co-lead counsel on behalf of transatlantic shippers of goods who brought an action against the leading carriers of containerized shipping in the United States- Europe trade for conspiracy to fix the charges made for shipping services. In excess of $50 million on behalf of the shippers was recovered in that case.

Portfolio Monitoring

Wolf Popper LLP ("WP") provides a variety of complimentary services to help institutional investor clients satisfy their fiduciary obligations as trustees in managing securities fraud claims and in monitoring corporate governance matters which may be of interest to them.