Pomerantz Partner Michael Grunfeld has made major strides pursuing companies that were alleged to have defrauded investors by convincing them to sell their shares for less than they were worth in take-private transactions. This issue formed the focus of two recent securities class actions against Chinese companies JA Solar and Qihoo 360, in which Michael achieved settlements of $21 million and $29.75 million, respectively. In both cases, the companies convinced investors to sell their shares in management-led buyouts before relisting in China at much higher valuations, allegedly concealing these plans from shareholders and thus depriving them of the fair value of their shares. Both Qihoo and JA Solar ended up before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, where Michael obtained favorable rulings on the plaintiffs’ behalf.
Whereas most securities lawsuits allege that corporations harm investors by artificially inflating the company’s share price, which subsequently falls when the truth is revealed, these suits assert that misleading statements that depress the stock price can harm shareholders when they sell their shares for less than they are worth. Michael’s work is at the forefront of this issue, seeking to define to what extent companies can be held liable when they misrepresent their plans or the company’s value in the merger context.
Michael played an integral role in Pomerantz’s litigation against Yahoo! Inc. for Yahoo’s alleged failure to disclose data breaches that occurred in 2014 and 2015—the two largest data breaches in history at the time. He drafted the plaintiffs’ opposition to defendants’ motion to dismiss. The force of his arguments led defendants to the negotiating table, resulting in an $80 million settlement that marked the first substantial shareholder recovery in a securities fraud class action related to a cybersecurity breach.
Michael led Lerman, et al. v. Apple Inc., a consumer class action against Apple alleging that its iOS 9 operating system harmed the performance of iPhone 4S devices. Michael took and defended many fact and expert depositions, engaged in extensive discovery efforts, and drafted and argued the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification and related Daubert briefing. He achieved victory when the district court certified the class in October 2020, and, in February 2021, the Second Circuit denied Apple’s petition seeking leave to appeal. The court approved a $20 million settlement on behalf of the class in 2022.
In 2022, Michael was honored as a Lawdragon Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer. Law360 named Michael a 2019 Rising Star, an honor awarded to a select few top litigators under 40 years old “whose legal accomplishments transcend their age.” In addition, he was honored in 2018 and 2019 as a Super Lawyers® Rising Star and from 2020 forward as a Super Lawyers® Top-Rated Securities Litigation Attorney.
Updated Oct 2024
