Insurance & Financial Services

• Representing an FCM in ongoing litigation with insurers over their denial of coverage for $141 million in losses caused by a rogue employee’s unlawful commodity futures trades.
• Represented an FCM in a class action lawsuit defending against claims alleging that the firm engaged in, or assisted, a scheme to manipulate the prices of palladium and platinum futures contracts traded on NYMEX.
• Defended Lloyds Bank in a fraudulent conveyance action. The month-long trial concerned the business enterprise valuation of a machine-tool manufacturer that later went bankrupt. The trial ended with low damages against our client, which were further reduced after an appeal, remand, and settlement.
• Represented an international bank in an action to foreclose $165 million in construction loan mortgages.
• Represented Apollo Global Management, LLC and its portfolio company, The Fresh Market, as coordinating litigation counsel in multiple merger objection suits arising from the acquisition of The Fresh Market in March of 2016 by certain Apollo affiliates. Following the acquisition, ten separate suits were filed in federal and state courts in Delaware and North Carolina. Mintz successfully negotiated the resolution of all ten complaints in the Delaware Chancery Court and federal district court in the Middle District of North Carolina.
• Defended an international commercial bank in an employment whistleblowing case relating to money laundering claims. After being engaged to replace existing trial counsel on the eve of trial, we secured a reversal of a denial of summary judgement from a Federal District Court that resulted in a prompt and favorable resolution of the action.
• Obtained dismissal with prejudice of federal and state court complaints asserted against an FCM by investors in a commodity pool who alleged that the FCM aided and abetted a Ponzi scheme perpetrated by the pool operator. We secured a favorable opinion by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression interpreting the Commodity Exchange Act.
• Represented a private equity company and its principals in a highly contested derivative litigation in the Chancery Court of Delaware alleging breach of fiduciary duty claims by majority shareholders and management of the company.
• Represented a major bank/liquidity provider in a dispute over the sequence and priority of payments on student-loan revenue bonds.
• Defended a leading futures and options broker in a civil litigation stemming from a $200 million fraud perpetrated by a hedge fund manager.
• Represented a broker-dealer and its employees in a "raiding" dispute brought by a rival broker-dealer, including claims of corporate espionage and theft of trade secrets. After a number of plaintiff's claims were dismissed at the pleading stage, we obtained summary judgment in favor of our clients and dismissal of the remaining causes of action.
• Represented all the minority owners of an arbitrage fund that folded after discovering that its value had been inflated by more than 40%. We defended the civil action in New York and related regulatory investigations of the fund’s owners for a number of years. The matter concluded with the no charges being levied against our clients, and an extremely favorable outcome in the civil litigation.
• Defended several officers and employees in civil and class action lawsuits filed in the wake of the bankruptcy and collapse of MF Global amid allegations of missing customer segregated funds. Among many successes, we secured the dismissal of the CEO from the securities class action, and the dismissal of five officers and employees from the commodity class action.
• Represented Apollo Global Management in conjunction with the Stark Master Fund litigation, a securities fraud case.  Following jurisdictional discovery, Apollo filed a compelling motion to dismiss based on jurisdictional grounds, and the Plaintiffs decided to voluntarily dismiss Apollo from the case rather than try to battle Apollo’s motion in court.
• Represented the former CEO of a publicly owned telecommunications company in two securities fraud class actions stemming from the company's bankruptcy in the wake of the dot-com bubble burst. The first complaint alleged fraud in connection with disclosures about the company's credit facility. The plaintiffs then filed a second class action alleging that our client engaged in accounting improprieties and caused the company to issue false financial statements. The court granted our motion to dismiss the second complaint on the ground that plaintiffs were on inquiry notice of a potential fraud long before they asserted their claims, and dismissed the action as barred by the statute of limitations. We were able to obtain a settlement of the entire matter on terms that were very favorable to our client.
• Defended a publicly traded hospitality REIT against allegations by its counterparty, a large multi-national investment bank, that two of our client’s funds defaulted on their obligations under a $1.2 billion credit default swap.
• Served as counsel for a group of private equity firms named as defendants in an antitrust class action alleging that the defendant private equity firms and investment banks conspired to fix prices and allocate market share in the market for the acquisition of shares in companies being sold through leveraged buy outs.
• Represented the general partner of a hedge fund and its members in a dispute with a former employee who claimed to own a minority interest in the general partner.
• Represented an FCM in an arbitration brought by a software developer to recover fees allegedly owed for the use of a platform to support OTC brokers in the fixed income and derivative markets.
• Served as lead trial counsel for a private equity–backed financial services company in litigation brought by its company founder. Successfully limited clients’ exposure at trial and on appeal.
• Represented a major commodities broker in a class action brought in Florida state court. After twice dismissing the complaint and granting plaintiffs leave to replead, the court finally dismissed all claims with prejudice and awarded our client its costs and attorneys' fees. The appellate court affirmed.
• Defended an accounting firm in the first post–PSLRA §10(b)-5 action against accountants to go to verdict. The result was a unanimous jury verdict for the defense.
• Served as lead counsel for a private investment fund defrauded by a Forex trading platform scam. We counseled fund manager through a federal investigation and successfully litigated a forfeiture case against the US government, resulting in summary judgment ordering government to turnover 100% of the forfeiture fund to the client and reimburse attorneys' fees.
• Defended a national financial institution and its federal savings bank subsidiary in putative class action in federal court by borrowers whose vehicles were repossessed alleging violation of California's Rees-Levering Act (concerning required content of notices of repossession and deficiencies on auto loans) as a predicate for unfair competition (§ 17200) claims.
• Successfully appealed decision dismissing investment funds’ action for legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty against former counsel.
• Successfully represented a veteran commodity trader against potential federal felony charges related to alleged “wash trades” executed on behalf of a customer suspected of having ties to Russian organized crime. Obtained a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
• Represented a futures commission merchant in a CFTC investigation arising from a $200 million fraud perpetrated by a hedge fund manager and commodity pool operator who hid trading losses.

Transactional - Mergers & Acquisitions

• Represented John Hancock Financial Network Inc., a division of Manulife, in its acquisition of Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.
• Represented Beacon Consulting Group in its merger with Accenture (NYSE:CAN).

Insurance & Reinsurance

• Defended an insurance holding company against alleged bad faith claims brought under M.G.L. chs. 93A/176D in connection with its handling and adjusting of a wrongful death claim.
• Represented a Canadian insurance company in its reinsurance contract dispute with an American insurance company. The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the District of Massachusetts’s award of summary judgment to our client.
• Represented a US based captive insurer in a reinsurance arbitration against a market of European insurers and ultimately confirmed a $220 million recovery arising out of Mississippi flood losses.
• Represented top US title insurer in a putative class action in a coordinated federal court case alleging antitrust, unfair competition (§ 17200), and unfair competition claims. Eliminated antitrust claims on motion to dismiss, and succeeded in compelling individual (non-class) arbitration on remaining claims based on recent Supreme Court precedent.
• Represented a South Carolina-based insurer in a series of disputes with another insurer arising out of an E&O Policy.
• Represented the Lloyd's market in major subrogation litigation proceedings in various US jurisdictions. These matters include routine recoveries arising from contractual provisions as well as more complex matters including a recovery arising out of the largest fire in New Orleans history prior to Katrina as well as a recovery arising out of the theft of tens of millions of dollars of bank assets in a Latin American country.
• Represented a major life insurance company in class action disputes concerning marketing practices for its variable annuity products.
• Represented a US life reinsurer in a reinsurance dispute involving the calculation of premium under yearly renewable term (YRT) life reinsurance contracts.
• Represented an insurer and obtained dismissal with prejudice of a class action alleging unfair claims settlement practices in connection with the resolution of asbestos liability claims.
• Defended an insurer through summary judgment and on appeal against breach of contract and bad faith claims by immediately deposing the insured and proving no damages, while preventing any depositions of the insurer.
• Represented a US broker in Delaware litigation arising out of the placement of a complex D&O program.
• Represented an insurer in parallel actions before the bankruptcy court and federal court in connection with claims for coverage brought by directors, officers, and corporate policyholders leading to a successful multiparty mediation.
• Represented a major multinational insurer in a reinsurance arbitration involving the application of a self-insured retention following the insured’s insolvency, forcing our client to singlehandedly settle a catastrophic claim.
• Represented a Panamanian reinsurer in a $15 million reinsurance arbitration dispute with a US retrocessionaire involving dozens of automatic (proportional and non-proportional) and facultative reinsurance agreements and common account excess of loss reinsurance agreements involving hundreds of contracts that the parties wrote and participated in together over an approximate fifteen year period.
• Represented a US based insurer is a series of environmental coverage disputes against a “Fortune 500” company arising out of the contamination of the Kalamazoo River and various other sites. The disputes involved in excess of $50 million in umbrella coverage.
• Represented an insurance company in a lawsuit filed by another insurance company alleging that our client improperly failed to settle a lawsuit brought against their mutually insured client within the primary policy liability limits. Lead trial counsel for multi-national insurance company defending against bad faith claims brought in federal court by another insurance company. Obtained a complete victory for client after two week federal bench trial.
• Represented a US based insurer in several complex reinsurance disputes in New York state and federal courts involving recoveries in excess of $50 million and defenses of allocation and notice.
• Represented a US insurer in a reinsurance arbitration involving the “forced” commutation of a workers’ compensation program.
• Served as national coordinating coverage counsel for an insurer on a broad range of general liability claims, including concussion, environmental, and sex molestation claims.
• Defended an insurer against claims that it converted subrogation claims, obtaining summary judgment from the US District Court for the District of Oregon.
• Represented EverQuote Inc., a service that allows consumers to compare insurance quotes, in a class action in which plaintiff alleged our client texted individuals without prior express consent and violated the TCPA. EverQuote does not send text messages and prohibits its vendors from sending text messages on its behalf. We successfully persuaded plaintiff to voluntarily dismiss his case.