Levi & Korsinsky LLP secured a significant victory on January 25, 2016, when Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware denied in part Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss in In re EZCORP Inc. Consulting Agreement Derivative Litigation (C.A. No. 9962-VCL).  A copy of the Memorandum Opinion is available here.   The lawsuit seeks to recover damages associated with EZCORP’s improper and unlawful retention of outside managerial services from entities owned by the Company’s controlling stockholder, Phillip Ean Cohen.  For years, Mr. Cohen has been profiting from these managerial services agreements at the expense of the Company and its common stockholders.  Plaintiff’s Complaint alleges several claims against EZCORP’s Board of Directors and Mr. Cohen, including breach of fiduciary duty.  Vice Chancellor Laster’s decision confirms the merit of Plaintiff’s allegations and allows the case to proceed to discovery.  With this significant accomplishment, Levi & Korsinsky LLP will continue to dedicate its efforts towards the successful prosecution of this lawsuit.

On January 5, 2016, the Honorable Timothy J. Drury, Erie County, NY, Supreme Court Judge, issued a decision granting the motion of four former Buffalo Bills Cheerleaders (“the Jills”) to certify a class of all Buffalo Bills cheerleaders and ambassadors since April 2008, and appointing plaintiffs as representatives for the class.   Judge Drury also appointed plaintiffs’ counsel, Levi & Korsinsky, LLP, Marlborough Law Firm, P.C.,  and Dolce Panepinto as co-lead counsel for the class, noting, the firms have “pursued the instant litigation vigorously and with skill and would be expected to continue to do so.”   The Court certified the class with respect to plaintiffs’ statutory wage and common law claims. In connection with his certification of the statutory wage claims, Judge Drury noted:

Plaintiffs have submitted evidence … that the members of the Jills cheerleader squad were required to work for the defendants not as employees, but rather as independent contractors and not paid by the Bills or the other defendants, when in fact they were employees of defendants. Given the above, the defendants would be in violation of the various causes of action the plaintiffs have alleged dealing with their wage claims. The Bills would be responsible for requiring the other employer defendants to misclassify the Jills and the NFL would be responsible for affirmatively approving the unlawful practice.

Similarly, the Court determined that plaintiffs’ common law fraud claim was appropriate for class treatment. With respect to its certification of that claim, the court stated that:

[E]ach Jill was subject to the same misrepresentation [misclassifying them as independent contractors] set forth in the Cheerleading Agreement which they were required to sign. The falsity of this Agreement is evident in the strictures of the Code of Conduct that bound them which treated them as employees. Finally, … the cheerleaders would not have agreed to the misrepresentation if they had known that they were participating in the commission of a crime by agreeing to serve as Bills cheerleaders.

With respect to plaintiffs’ retaliation claim based on the filing of the Buffalo Bills filing of an allegedly retaliatory counterclaim against plaintiffs and unnamed class members, the Court noted that class treatment was not appropriate because some members of the class may not have been aware that a counterclaim was filed against them.   The case is currently in the discovery phase. Pursuant to the Court’s decision, notice to class members of their rights with respect to the action will issue promptly.

We achieved a $36.5 million common fund settlement for former shareholders of Bluegreen Corp. in the wake of a majority shareholder buyout, representing a 25% increase in total consideration to the minority shareholders.

United States District Judge S. James Otero selected Levi & Korsinsky LLP to serve as Co-Lead Counsel in a class action securities lawsuit against Resonant, Inc. The firm approves its appointment as Co-Lead Counsel and will remain dedicated to achieving an optimal outcome for all class members.

United States District Judge Margaret M. Morrow selected Levi & Korsinsky to serve as Lead Counsel in the class action lawsuit against 500.com Ltd. Judge Morrow’s opinion noted that the firm has “extensive experience litigating complex securities fraud class actions as lead counsel on behalf of individual investors throughout the United States.” Read more

In the recently-issued report "ISS Securities Class Action Services 50," Levi & Korsinsky is listed as having recovered over $40 million on behalf of shareholders in its securities class action litigation practice in 2014. This report is issued by Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which maintains a database of industry leaders in the field of securities class action litigation. The report lists the top 50 plaintiffs' law firms ranked by the dollar value of final class action settlements occurring in 2014 in which the firm served as lead or co-lead counsel. The report does not include data on derivative or merger lawsuits for which Levi & Korsinsky is an industry leader, having recovered many millions of dollars on behalf of investors in 2014. Our firm is proud to be honored with this distinction and will continue to aggressively advocate on behalf of its clients nationwide.  

On April 15, 2015, United States District Judge Richard Seeborg granted preliminary approval of the class settlement. Judge Seeborg’s order and the class settlement agreement can be viewed here. Preliminary Approval Order OCZ Amended Stipulation of Settlement

United States District Judge Freda F. Wolfson selected Levi & Korsinsky to serve as Lead Counsel in the class action securities lawsuit against Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. The firm approves its appointment as Lead Counsel and remains focused on achieving an optimal outcome for all class members. Read more

The Notice of Pendency and Settlement of Action can be viewed here.

Serving as Lead Counsel in Monson v. Friedman, et al., Levi & Korsinsky received final approval of a settlement providing for the recession of 63,714 stock options that had been granted to the company’s chairman, president and CEO in excess of the company’s shareholder-approved equity compensation plan, a twelve-month moratorium on stock option grants to the company’s chairman, president and CEO, and other significant corporate governance reforms, including the creation of a committee of independent directors to review the company’s equity based compensation practices. The Stipulation of Settlement and Notice to Class Members can be viewed here. The Stipulation of Settlement Notice of Class Members

In Kleba v. Dees, et al., C.A. 3-1-13 (Tenn. Cir. Ct. Knox Cnty. 2014), Levi & Korsinsky recovered approximately $9 million in excess compensation given to insiders and caused the cancellation of millions of shares of stock options issued in violation of a shareholder-approved compensation plan. In addition, we obtained the adoption of formal corporate governance procedures designed to ensure that future compensation decisions are made independently and consistent with the plan.

The Stipulation of Settlement Notice of Pendency

In the recently issued SCAS Top 50 Report for 2013, Levi & Korsinsky is listed as having recovered $42 million on behalf of shareholders in its securities class action litigation practice during 2013. The Securities Class Action Services ("SCAS") 50 report is published by Institutional Shareholder Services which maintains an industry leading database on securities class action litigation. The SCAS 50 report lists the top 50 plaintiffs' law firms ranked by the dollar value of final class action settlements occurring in 2013 in which the law firm served as lead or co-lead counsel. The SCAS 50 report does not include data on derivative or merger lawsuits for which Levi & Korsinsky is an industry leader, having recovered millions of dollars on behalf of investors in 2013. Our firm is proud to be honored with this distinction and will continue to aggressively advocate on behalf of its clients nationwide.

Click here to view the Stipulation and Agreement of Compromise, Settlement and Release.    

On April 24, 2014, Jefferson County Circuit Court of the Commonwealth of Kentucky approved the settlement of a class action against NTS Realty Holdings Limited Partnership (the "Company") and its Board of Directors and certain of its executive officers. The action is captioned, Stephen J. Dannis, et al. v. J.D. Nichols, et al., Case No. 13-CI-00452. Levi Korsinsky LLP as co-lead counsel obtained a 23% increase in the merger consideration (from $7.50 to $9.25 per unit) for a total benefit of $7.4 million for the unit holders of the Company. The settlement was achieved after two years of hard fought litigation, challenging the entire fairness of the going-private squeeze-out merger by NTS’s controlling unitholder and Chairman, Defendant Jack Nichols. The unitholders bringing the action alleged that Nichols' proposed transaction grossly undervalued NTS’s units. The 23% increase in merger consideration achieved by Levi Korsinsky LLP was a remarkable result given that on October 18, 2013, the Special Committee appointed by the Board of Director's had terminated the existing merger agreement with Nichols. Through counsel's tenacious efforts the transaction was resurrected and improved by 23%.