Our Accomplishments
Saxena White P.A., its attorneys and support staff have extensive experience representing both institutional and individual clients in securities class action litigation, derivative actions, and individual federal and state securities actions. Since Saxena White's inception in 2006, the firm and its attorneys have been involved in actively litigating over 100 such actions, over 75% of which involved public pension fund clients. Saxena White specializes in these types of cases, which has enabled Saxena White's attorneys to master these complex areas of law.
Saxena White's excellent litigation record would not be possible without our dedicated portfolio monitoring and case analysis team. Saxena White is particularly selective about the cases that we choose to litigate, and we will not file actions that we do not believe have substantial merit. The firm bases its case evaluation on many factors, but most heavily relies on the collective experience of its members in making this crucial determination. Our monitoring and evaluation services are the key to ensuring that we recommend only the best cases to our clients. Saxena White's portfolio monitoring and case evaluation services are provided at no charge to our clients.
Saxena White Has Served as Lead Counsel in Numerous
Securities Class Actions
A precedent-setting action, in which we served as sole lead counsel, is Central Laborer's v. SIRVA Litig. (04-CV-4644), which we litigated in the Northern District of Illinois (SIRVA is the parent company of North American Van Lines). After 2 1/2 years of hard-fought litigation, an extensive investigation which involved conducting nearly 120 witness interviews, and the review of approximately 2.7 million documents produced by Defendants, we conducted a two day mediation at which we were able to reach a global $53.3 million dollar settlement on behalf of the proposed shareholder class. In addition, we conducted a comprehensive review of SIRVA's corporate governance procedures in an effort to ensure that securities fraud and accounting violations were less likely to occur at the Company in the future. This careful and comprehensive review, which we spearheaded in conjunction with retained corporate governance experts, confirmed that SIRVA had made great strides in improving its governance standards over the course of our lawsuit. This was especially true in the area of its internal controls, which were one of our primary concerns. The company formally recognized, in writing, that our lawsuit was one of the main reasons that they reformed its governance standards, which confirmed that we were the key catalyst compelling SIRVA to recognize the need to change the way it does business.
In addition, we were able to obtain even more governance improvements by convincing the Board to discard their plurality (also known as "cumulative") standard for the election of their directors in favor of a modified majority standard (also known as the "Pfizer model"). This important change gives every SIRVA shareholder a greater voice, as well as improving director accountability, by forcing directors who do not receive a majority of the votes to tender their resignation for the Board's consideration. Furthermore, SIRVA also agreed to strengthen its requirements regarding director attendance at shareholder meetings, which created more director accountability and increased shareholder input. Importantly, the courts are unable to order these types of governance changes; it was only the negotiation and litigation pressure we imposed upon the Company that allowed these changes to be implemented.
Another important case we litigated as co-lead counsel is In re Friedman's Sec. Litig., 1:03-CV-3475 (N.D. Ga.), where we were faced with the main corporate defendant in bankruptcy, and executives in prison. After five years of intense litigation, we obtained a $14.9 million settlement, with the Court noting on the record that Saxena White's lawyers act with "dignity and respect," produce "well-done pleadings," are "thorough [and] insightful," and "fight[] as hard but as honestly and professionally as they can for the interest of their clients."
Saxena White Has Substantial Experience in Derivative and Other Types of Shareholder Actions
In addition to federal securities litigation, Saxena White has obtained meaningful results for institutional investors in derivative cases, merger and acquisition litigation, and other types of cases involving corporate misconduct. A few notable examples include:
Stock Options Backdating:
In In re Cablevision Systems Options Backdating Litigation, ("Cablevision") (Supreme Court of New York, Nassau County, June 2008) we served as co-lead counsel for lead plaintiffs. We obtained an excellent resolution of a case of substantial complexity. On August 8, 2006, Cablevision shocked its investors when it was finally forced to reveal that it had been improperly backdating stock option grants. These manipulations, carried out to benefit Company insiders, violated applicable accounting rules as well as the very terms of Cablevision's stock option plans. We recovered financial benefits in the sum of approximately $34.4 million, representing a staggering (and rarely achieved) 46% of the recoverable damages. In addition, we successfully negotiated numerous corporate governance reforms. Those reforms were targeted not only at restructuring the Company's option-granting practices to address many of the root causes of the misconduct alleged in the actions, but also at implementing measures to address and prevent weaknesses in internal controls which will yield positive changes in many areas of Cablevision's operations.
Merger Litigation:
Saxena White has obtained solid increases in shareholder value in merger-related litigation. A recent example of such a success is In re Cox Radio, Inc. Shareholders Litigation, C.A. No. 4461-VCP (Del. Ch. 2009), in which we represented a Florida Police Pension Fund. The Police Pension Fund alleged that the initial price offered to public shareholders in the tender offer was unfair and did not properly value the assets of Cox Radio. After considerable discovery and expedited motion practice, we were instrumental in raising the price of the deal by nearly 30%, creating nearly $18 million in additional value for all public shareholders, including the Police Pension Fund. We also obtained the issuance of additional meaningful disclosures regarding the valuation process used in the deal.
