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Heins Mills & Olson Ranked
Third on ‘SCAS 50’ list for 2006
Heins Mills & Olson is proud to announce that it ranks third on the annual "SCAS 50" list of the top 50 law firms for 2006. Released by Securities Class Action Services (SCAS), a subsidiary of Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), the list ranks firms by the total dollar amount of securities class action settlements obtained during the year as lead counsel. According to ISS, the list “is intended to help institutional investors maximize shareholder value by highlighting those firms bringing in the most settlement dollars and playing the most active role in U.S. class action cases." [List]
► Sam Heins Meets with SEC Chairman Cox
On June 6, 2007, Sam Heins represented Heins Mills & Olson at a meeting with SEC Chairman Christopher Cox to share ideas about coordinating SEC Fair Fund and private securities action settlement distributions. Chairman Cox invited Heins Mills & Olson, one of only two law firms, to hear more about our positive collaboration with the SEC to distribute $300 million of Fair Fund money simultaneously with the distribution of $2.65 billion we recovered on behalf of AOL and Time Warner investors. The SEC is interested in applying what it can learn from that experience to inform a uniform policy for future distributions of more than $7 billion in Fair Fund money it has recovered in enforcement actions.
The Institutional Investors' Choice of
Counsel
Heins Mills & Olson is among the leading firms
prosecuting securities fraud class actions. Our attorneys have
aggressively pursued cases on behalf of both institutional and
individual investors and other victims of corporate misconduct in
federal and state courts across the country. Our institutional
investor clients have included numerous state pension funds,
managing billions of dollars in assets, including the Utah State
Retirement Board, Teachers' Retirement System of Alabama, Employees'
Retirement System of Alabama, Judicial Retirement Fund of Alabama,
Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado, Minnesota
State Board of Investment, as well as certain Taft-Hartley health,
welfare and pension funds. Investigation as to filed cases are
ongoing.
Among the securities fraud class actions successfully prosecuted by
Heins Mills & Olson are suits against multi-media giant Time Warner
Inc. and Broadcom Corporation, one of the leading providers of
highly integrated silicon solutions enabling broadband
transmissions. In both
cases, Heins Mills & Olson served as lead counsel, representing lead
plaintiff Minnesota State Board of Investment and a national class
of investors.
AOL Time Warner and
Broadcom Settlement Distributions
AOL Time Warner
Awaiting Court Approval for Distribution of
$2.65 Billion Settlement with Time Warner and
Ernst & Young – Second Largest Settlement in History by Securities
Issuer
The Hon. Shirley Wohl Kram,
a U.S. District Court Judge in the Southern District of New York,
now has under advisement a motion for authorization to distribute a
$2.65 billion class action settlement recovered by Heins Mills &
Olson as Lead Counsel for millions of America Online, Inc. (AOL) and
Time Warner Inc. shareholders. Heins
Mills & Olson has also requested approval for a simultaneous
distribution of a $300 million SEC Fair Fund to class members and
certain other eligible claimants.
The settlement includes $2.4 billion paid by Time Warner,
$100 million paid by Ernst & Young, and $150 million recovered by
the Department of Justice in a separate action.
Judge Kram granted final approval of the settlement on April 6,
2006, observing that “Plaintiffs have secured a substantial,
immediate recovery for the Plaintiff Class that ranks among the five
largest securities settlements in history, and is the second largest
settlement ever reached with an issuer of securities.” The $2.65
billion settlement includes $2.4 billion paid by Time Warner and
$100 million paid by Ernst & Young, LLP. In granting final approval
of the Settlement, the court noted Heins Mills & Olson’s
“exceptional lawyering in this case” and that the court “continues
to be impressed with the quality of representation provided by
[Heins Mills & Olson], its prosecution of the lawsuit, and its
negotiation of the Settlement.” It further stated, “Not only do the
parties dispute the amount of damages sustained by the Class, they
continue to dispute the very existence of damages. In light of this
fundamental disagreement, the $2.65 billion Settlement secured by
Plaintiffs is all the more impressive.”
For more about the AOL Securities Settlement Settlement, click
here.
Case History
In January 2003, Heins Mills & Olson was appointed as lead counsel
in In re AOL Time Warner, Inc. Securities Litigation pending in the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
On April 15, 2003, the firm filed a First Amended Consolidated Class
Action Complaint on behalf of those who purchased, exchanged or
otherwise acquired AOL common stock, or bought or sold options on
such stock, during the period January 27, 1999 through January 11,
2001, and those who exchanged, purchased or otherwise acquired
shares of AOL Time Warner, or bought or sold options on such stock,
during the period January 12, 2001 through July 24, 2002. AOL and
AOL Time Warner, and their top executives, including Chairman of the
Board Stephen Case, allegedly overstated AOL and AOL Time Warner's
advertising revenues by the staggering amount of at least $1.7
billion during the class period through the use of sham transactions
and improper accounting practices. The defendants allegedly engaged
in this scheme in order to artificially inflate the price of AOL and
AOL Time Warner securities, ensure consummation of the much-hyped
merger of AOL and Time Warner, and allow defendants to sell millions
of shares of their own AOL Time Warner shares at artificially
inflated prices, thereby reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in
proceeds. To see the AOL complaint, click
here.
On May 5, 2004, the Court denied most of Defendants' motions to
dismiss Plaintiff's complaint, noting it is "quite clear that
[Plaintiff] is entitled to offer evidence to support (most of) its
claims involving the defendants' 'systematic and fraudulent scheme
to inflate the advertising revenue reported in the companies'
publicly disclosed financial statements and, in turn, the value of
AOL and [AOL Time Warner] securities' by at least $1.7 billion." The
Court's order will allow Plaintiff to go forward and engage in
discovery with regard to the majority of its claims. To see the
Court's order, click
here.
On August 11, 2004, the Court granted Plaintiff's motion to file a
Second Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint thereby allowing
Plaintiff to proceed with securities fraud claims against, among
others, AOL Time Warner Chairman of the Board Stephen Case, AOL Time
Warner Chief Executive Officer Gerald Levin and two other high
ranking Company officials. To see the Court's order, click
here.
This litigation had perhaps the largest document production in the
history of securities fraud class litigation. Defendants and
nonparties produced more than 15.5 million pages of documents. To
unearth and unravel the complex transactions and accounting
manipulations used to inflate AOL’s advertising revenue, Heins Mills
& Olson established a state-of-the-art document review facility, and
teams of lawyers dedicated to document coding, evidence review,
compilation and/or analysis, briefing, tactical negotiating, expert
consultation and/or settlement mediation.
Broadcom Corporation
Court Authorizes Distribution of $150 Million Settlement in Broadcom Corporation Securities Litigation
On March 22, 2007, the Honorable Dickran Tevrizian authorized
distribution of a $150 million settlement achieved by Heins Mills &
Olson as Lead Counsel for a class of investors who purchased
Broadcom Corporation common stock between July 31, 2000 and February
26, 2001. The settlement resolved claims that Broadcom, a maker of
integrated circuits for broadband communications, and three of its
officers and directors violated federal securities laws by creating
and implementing a fraudulent scheme to conceal the company’s
declining revenue..
In granting preliminary approval of the settlement, the Honorable
Gary L. Taylor commented:
“This was a complex case. A great deal of hard work went into it over quite a period of time. Some fascinating motions and a great deal of good lawyer work. It did proceed through an extensive mediation process at a very high level. And by that I mean that, the mediator was the best, the attorneys involved were the best and they all gave it a good deal of discussion. And I think it’s quite apparent that it’s arrived at a fair and proper conclusion.”
In
re Broadcom Corporation Sec. Litig.,
SA CV 01-0275
(C.D.
And Judge Tevrizian echoed Judge Taylor’s favorable words when he granted final approval of the settlement:
“The recovery of $150 million ... is an exceptional result given the complexity of the case, and despite keenly contested and very complex facts. … Class Counsel’s ability to obtain a favorable settlement despite formidable opposition confirms their immense skill.”
In re Broadcom Corporation Sec. Litig.,
SA CV 01-0275
(C.D.
For more information about the Broadcom Securities Settlement, settlement, click here.
Case History
The $150 million settlement was achieved as a
result of four years of arduous litigation by Heins Mills & Olson
and the other firms it supervised as Lead Counsel for the Class.
During that time, Class Counsel reviewed, and analyzed hundreds of
thousands of documents produced by Defendants and third parties;
deposed 45 fact witnesses and participated in 11 other depositions;
retained and consulted with six testifying experts, and defended
them during 14 days of depositions; analyzed reports prepared by
Defendants’ nine testifying experts and deposed them over a total of
11 days; brought or opposed dozens of pretrial motions (including no
fewer than seven defense motions for summary judgment or partial
summary judgment alone); responded to comprehensive discovery
requests from each of the Defendants; and prepared to try this case
in January of this year, filing and responding to trial submissions
in accordance with the Court’s orders.
Heins Mills & Olson prepared extensively for trial, originally set
for January 2005 and later continued twice, ultimately to September
13, 2005. In addition to preparing the required trial submissions
and motions in limine, Heins Mills & Olson worked with third-party
and in-house graphics designers to create demonstrative exhibits and
worked with outside trial technology experts to ensure a smooth and
reliable flow of electronically retrievable exhibits and deposition
testimony during trial. The firm also retained and worked with a
nationally recognized jury consultant to assist in conducting focus
groups to test trial themes, witnesses and exhibits, conducting a
two-day jury simulation, and preparing a jury questionnaire.
