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Overview

​​JOSEPH D. COHEN has extensive complex civil litigation experience, and currently oversees the firm’s settlement department, negotiating, documenting and obtaining court approval of the firm’s securities, merger and derivative settlements.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Cohen successfully prosecuted numerous securities fraud, consumer fraud, antitrust and constitutional law cases in federal and state courts throughout the country. Cases in which Mr. Cohen took a lead role include: Jordan v. California Dep’t of Motor Vehicles, 100 Cal. App. 4th 431 (2002) (complex action in which the California Court of Appeal held that California’s Non-Resident Vehicle $300 Smog Impact Fee violated the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, paving the way for the creation of a $665 million fund and full refunds, with interest, to 1.7 million motorists); In re Geodyne Res., Inc. Sec. Litig. (Harris Cty. Tex.) (settlement of securities fraud class action, including related litigation, totaling over $200 million); In re Cmty. Psychiatric Centers Sec. Litig. (C.D. Cal.) (settlement of $55.5 million was obtained from the company and its auditors, Ernst & Young, LLP); In re McLeodUSA Inc., Sec. Litig. (N.D. Iowa) ($30 million settlement); In re Arakis Energy Corp. Sec. Litig. (E.D.N.Y.) ($24 million settlement); In re Metris Cos., Inc., Sec. Litig. (D. Minn.) ($7.5 million settlement); In re Landry’s Seafood Rest., Inc. Sec. Litig. (S.D. Tex.) ($6 million settlement); and Freedman v. Maspeth Fed. Loan and Savings Ass’n, (E.D.N.Y) (favorable resolution of issue of first impression under RESPA resulting in full recovery of improperly assessed late fees).

Mr. Cohen was also a member of the teams that obtained substantial recoveries in the following cases: In re: Foreign Exchange Benchmark Rates Antitrust Litig. (S.D.N.Y.) (partial settlements of approximately $2 billion); In re Washington Mutual Mortgage-Backed Sec. Litig. (W.D. Wash.) (settlement of $26 million); Mylan Pharm., Inc. v. Warner Chilcott Public Ltd. Co. (E.D. Pa.) ($8 million recovery in antitrust action on behalf of class of indirect purchasers of the prescription drug Doryx); City of Omaha Police and Fire Ret. Sys. v. LHC Group, Inc. (W.D. La.) (securities class action settlement of $7.85 million); and In re Pacific Biosciences of Cal., Inc. Sec. Litig. (Cal. Super. Ct.) ($7.6 million recovery).

In addition, Mr. Cohen was previously the head of the settlement department at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP. While at BLB&G, Mr. Cohen had primary responsibility for overseeing the team working on the following settlements, among others: In Re Merck & Co., Inc. Sec., Deriv. & “ERISA” Litig. (D.N.J.) ($1.062 billion securities class action settlement); New York State Teachers’ Ret. Sys. v. General Motors Co. (E.D. Mich.) ($300 million securities class action settlement); In re JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sec. Litig. (S.D.N.Y.) ($150 million settlement); Dep’t of the Treasury of the State of New Jersey and its Division of Inv. v. Cliffs Natural Res. Inc., et al. (N.D. Ohio) ($84 million securities class action settlement); In re Penn West Petroleum Ltd. Sec. Litig. (S.D.N.Y.) ($19.76 million settlement); and In re BioScrip, Inc. Sec. Litig. ($10.9 million settlement).