Our Practice areas
As a Delaware-based law firm with offices in New York, Rigrodsky & Long can effectively litigate complex cases involving the corporate laws of both Delaware and other states (which often look to Delaware law for guidance). Such cases include corporate class action litigation to protect the direct financial interests of shareholders against under-priced or coercive transactions or shareholder derivative litigation to, among other things, recover money for the company arising from the misconduct of its officers and/or directors. We are also committed to representing institutional and individual plaintiffs in federal securities fraud and consumer fraud litigation.
We are dedicated to providing legal services of the highest quality to shareholders of both private and publicly traded corporations in litigation involving corporate governance, shareholder rights, and violations of federal and state securities and consumer fraud laws.
Class Action Litigation
We are committed to representing plaintiffs in corporate securities and consumer fraud litigation. The Firm files these cases as class actions, meaning that selected representatives of a group of like-situated investors assert claims against corporations or financial institutions to recover damages for the class as a whole. Aggregating the claims of many injured investors in a class action makes particular sense where the financial harm to any one investor is insufficient to justify extremely costly litigation against a well-funded defendant.
Shareholder Corporation Litigation
In corporate class action litigation, shareholders can assert claims against management and directors of a company for violating their fiduciary duties in connection with corporate transactions, such as so-called "going-private" deals. In such circumstances, the goals of the litigation can be to increase the deal price, compel the public disclosure of important facts to assist investors in deciding whether to approve the deal, and/or to improve deal terms to ensure fairness and eliminate coercion.
Shareholder Securities Litigation
In federal securities fraud class action litigation, investors injured because of wrongful conduct, including the dissemination of fraudulent statements to the investing public, can sue to recover the difference between the fraudulently inflated price of their shares and its true market value. In addition to recouping investor losses, securities fraud litigation also can produce significant corporate governance reforms designed to deter and reduce repeated misconduct.
Shareholder Derivative Litigation
We have substantial experience litigating shareholder derivative lawsuits. A derivative lawsuit is brought by a shareholder of a corporation on the corporation's behalf. Such cases usually involve claims of mismanagement, waste of corporate assets, or self-dealing, and often involve claims against the officers or directors of the corporation.
Shareholder derivative litigation often is necessary because the corporation, which is run by officers and directors, cannot bring suit against one of its own, even if serious wrongdoing has occurred. To prosecute a derivative suit, the plaintiff must be a shareholder of the company, hold the shares at the time of the alleged wrongdoing, and continue to hold stock for the duration of the lawsuit.
Because a derivative suit seeks to assert rights on behalf of the company, any benefit from the suit goes directly to the company. This result, in turn, could positively affect the company's stock price, thereby benefiting all of its current shareholders.
ERISA Class Action Litigation
In ERISA class action litigation, a class action is brought on behalf of current and former employees of a corporation, pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), for breaches of fiduciary duty by a company in the administration of an employee benefit/retirement plan. This duty is sometimes breached by failing to prudently and loyally manage the benefit/retirement plan's investment in company stock by, among other things: (i) continuing to offer company stock as a retirement saving option; (ii) continuing to acquire and hold shares of company stock in the benefit/retirement plan when it was imprudent to do so; (iii) failing to provide complete and accurate information to the participants in the benefit/retirement plan regarding the company's financial condition and the prudence of investing in company stock; and (iv) maintaining the benefit/retirement plan's pre-existing investment in company stock when it was no longer a prudent investment for the benefit/retirement plan.