Michael Grunfeld Named to Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under List for 2022

Pomerantz is proud to announce that Partner Michael Grunfeld was, for the third year in a row, named to Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under List.

The list honors the “best and brightest law firm partners who stand out in their practices,” aged 40 or younger, who handle “high-stakes or precedent-setting” major cases. Honorees have established themselves in their respective practice areas, distinguishing themselves through a track record of superior recent case work, and earned exceptional feedback from peers and clients during Benchmark Litigation’s research review.

Michael has played a leading role in some of Pomerantz’s most significant class action litigations, including its case against Yahoo! Inc., which arose out of the then biggest data breaches in U.S. history. The Firm, as Lead Counsel, achieved an $80 million settlement on behalf of the Class, which made history as the first substantial shareholder recovery in a securities fraud class action related to a cybersecurity breach. Michael also shepherded Pomerantz’s historic $3 billion settlement in In re Petrobras Securities Litigation, No. 1:14-cv-09662 (S.D.N.Y.), to submission and court approval, serving as the point person in drafting the settlement papers, negotiating the settlement details with defendants, and strategizing how to protect the settlement from objections.

In May 2022, after six years of hard-fought litigation, Michael, along with co-counsel, secured a $20 million settlement, pending final approval of the Court, in a consumer class action against Apple, Inc., on behalf of iPhone owners. Plaintiffs alleged that Apple misrepresented iOS 9 by telling consumers that the software update would enhance the performance of their devices, when, in reality, the update actually caused iPhone 4S smartphones to run significantly more slowly than they did before the update.

In November 2021, Michael led Pomerantz to a significant victory on behalf investors when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the district court’s dismissal of a securities fraud class action against Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (“Qihoo”). A group of buyers that included Qihoo’s top executives had taken Qihoo private for $9.4 billion in 2016, only to take it public again on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in early 2018 at a market capitalization of $62 billion. The Second Circuit’s decision has considerable implications for other cases that raise similar issues. Qihoo is just one of several Chinese companies that have gone private from U.S. exchanges in recent years and relisted shortly thereafter on a foreign stock exchange for multiple times the price they paid to investors to take the company private – a practice which might increase based on recent political and regulatory developments

Michael also leads Pomerantz’s pro bono litigation on behalf of the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement System as an intervenor in The Doris Behr 2012 Irrevocable Trust v. Johnson & Johnson. At issue is an activist investor’s attempt to have Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”) shareholders vote on a proxy proposal instituting a corporate bylaw that would require all securities fraud claims against the company to be pursued through mandatory arbitration, and that would waive shareholder’s rights to bring securities class actions. In March 2022, the district court handed down an important victory for shareholders when it granted J&J’s and the Intervenor’s Motion to Dismiss the Third Amended Complaint. The case is currently on appeal to the Third Circuit.

Learn more about Michael Grunfeld in his firm bio.