Murielle Steven Walsh Named to Law360’s List of Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar for 2024

Pomerantz is pleased to announce that Partner Murielle Steven Walsh has been recognized as a 2024 Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar by Law360.

This award follows a year in which Murielle notched significant victories on behalf of investors in several major securities class action litigations. In March 2023, Murielle won class certification in the firm’s litigation against Wynn Resorts. The suit alleges that Wynn’s senior management concealed from investors and regulators a decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct by the company’s founder and former CEO Steve Wynn. As part of their opposition to class certification, the defendants claimed there was no front-end price impact, as the price of Wynn stock did not increase following the alleged misstatements. In granting class certification, the court sided with Pomerantz, holding that front-end price impact is not necessary in a case predicated on the “inflation maintenance theory”, which holds that misstatements by defendants need not lead to a price increase, but rather may prevent a company’s share price from falling, upholding inflation already inherent in the price. This victory is particularly noteworthy given the Second Circuit’s recent endorsement of the “inflation maintenance theory” in Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, et al. v. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Beyond expanding plaintiffs’ rights to pursue cases based on this theory, Murielle’s work on the Wynn case demonstrates that securities litigation is a viable avenue to hold corporations accountable for misconduct related to the #MeToo movement.

In addition to obtaining class certification in the Wynn case, Murielle achieved milestones in several other cases over the past year. In January 2023, Murielle secured final approval of a $3.1 million settlement with Loop Industries. The case alleged that Loop, a plastics recycling company, considerably overstated the originality, sustainability, and economic viability of its recycling processes. Murielle also filed oppositions to defendants’ motions to dismiss in cases against Centessa Pharmaceuticals, Renovacare Inc., and Canoo Inc., the latter of which involved misstatements surrounding its effort to go public via a SPAC transaction.

Over the course of her career, Murielle has participated in some of Pomerantz’s most significant cases. She was one of the lead attorneys that obtained a $36 million settlement in In re Livent Noteholders’ Securities Litigation. She also achieved a $3.75 million settlement on behalf of shareholders in litigation against Ormat Technologies Inc. In that case, Murielle convinced the court to exercise supplemental jurisdiction to apply U.S. securities law to claims against the company, which dual-listed its shares on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. In so doing, Murielle helped stake out a viable path for protecting the rights of global shareholders regardless of where they purchased their securities. Murielle has also taken on major players in the tech industry, including Fitbit and Pokemon Go.

With this honor, Murielle becomes the second Pomerantz attorney to be named a Law360 Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar after Managing Partner Jeremy Lieberman received the award in 2018. In 2020, Murielle was named a Plaintiffs Lawyer Trailblazer by The National Law Journal, and was ranked as a Top Plaintiffs’ Financial Lawyer in 2019 and 2020 by Lawdragon.