David Kessler

Landmark Results

• Pfizer, Inc.

  Case Caption: In re Pfizer Sec. Litig.

  Case Number: 1:04-cv-09866-LTS-HBP

  Court: Southern District of New York

  Judge: Honorable Laura Taylor Swain

  Plaintiffs: Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana, Christine Fleckles, Julie Perusse, and Alden Chace

  Defendants: Pfizer, Inc., Henry A. McKinnell, Karen L. Katen, Joseph M. Feczko, and Gail Cawkwell

  Overview: This securities fraud class action in Manhattan federal court arose out of Pfizer’s concealment of clinical results for two arthritic pain drugs, Celebrex and Bextra. Despite being aware of significant cardiovascular adverse events in clinical trials, Pfizer misrepresented the safety profile of the drugs until the U.S. Food & Drug Administration discontinued a key trial, forced the withdrawal of Bextra from the market, and issued an enhanced warning label for Celebrex. Following a summary judgment order dismissing the case several weeks before trial was set to begin, we successfully appealed the dismissal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the case was remanded for trial.

  After twelve years of litigation, the case resolved in 2016 with Pfizer agreeing to pay the shareholder class $486 million, the largest-ever securities fraud settlement against a pharmaceutical company in the Southern District of New York.

• Tyco International, Ltd.

  Case Caption: In re Tyco Int’l, Ltd. Sec. Litig.,

  Case Number: 1:02-md-01335-PB

  Court: District of New Hampshire

  Judge: Honorable Paul Barbadoro

  Plaintiffs: Plumbers and Pipefitters National Pension Fund, United Association General Officers Pension Plan, United Association Office Employees Pension Fund and United Association Local Union Officers & Employees Pension Fund, Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana, and Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System

  Defendants: Tyco International, Ltd., Michael A. Ashcroft, Mark A. Belnick and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

  Overview: This landmark $3.2 billion settlement included the largest securities class action recovery from a single corporate defendant in history ($2.975 billion), and the second largest auditor settlement ($225 million) in securities class action history at the time.

  The action asserted federal securities claims on behalf of all purchasers of Tyco International, Ltd. (Tyco) securities over a two-and-a-half-year period during which Tyco allegedly overstated its income through a multitude of accounting manipulations, and was subject to looting and self-dealing by its officers and directors. Developing critical areas of law, the litigation overcame defendants’ arguments that the class should recover nothing because Tyco had been defrauded by its own management.