News: Berman Tabacco In The News

Eight lawyers from Berman Tabacco‘s San Francisco office have been recognized by the Northern California Super Lawyers magazine, published by Thomson Reuters.

Joseph J. Tabacco, Jr. was recently recognized as a top plaintiff’s lawyer in California. The California Daily Journal recognized Joe for his litigation against the credit rating agencies on behalf of CalPERS, which resulted in settlements totaling $255 million.

A group of EpiPen purchasers have sued their pharmacy benefit managers, known as PBMs, in federal court in Minneapolis. In a lawsuit filed by Berman DeValerio, the EpiPen purchasers claim the PBMs–Express Scripts, CVS Health, and Prime Therapeutics–bear responsibility for the massive increase in the amounts EpiPen purchasers paid out-of-pocket for EpiPen. A copy of the Complaint is available here. The EpiPen purchasers allege that instead of pushing for lower prices from Mylan, the drug company that markets and sells EpiPen, the PBMs demanded rebates from Mylan–and kept a significant amount of those rebates for themselves.

Berman DeValerio and several of its partners have been recognized as leaders in their areas of practice by some of the legal industry’s leading publications.

Berman DeValerio raised enough funds to provide 15,000 meals for the Greater Boston Food Bank as part of the two-week Legal Food Frenzy. That is more than any other firm of its size, making it the winner of the charitable challenge in the “medium firm” category.

Berman DeValerio partner Nicole Lavallee and associate Justin Saif recently published an article in the Fall 2016 issue of the magazine of the California State Association of County Retirement Systems.

On Friday, December 2nd, Berman DeValerio’s San Francisco office volunteered at Raphael House family shelter. Raphael House is a privately funded, community-supported organization, which provides homeless and low-income families in the San Francisco Bay Area personalized family-centered solutions, including transitional housing along with mental health counseling, career services, and educational workshops, children’s programs and tutoring, to help at-risk families achieve stable housing and financial independence while strengthening family bonds and personal dignity.

Benchmark Litigation, a publication of U.K.-based Euromoney Institutional Investor plc, has published its 2017 10th Anniversary Edition profiling U.S. law firms. Berman DeValerio is ranked as “Highly Recommended 2017” – the sixth time the firm has received such ranking from Benchmark Litigation.

Berman DeValerio’s team of over 15 walkers and bikers participated in the Justice & Diversity Center’s Walk/Bike-A-Thon fundraiser on July 30, 2016. The Berman DeValerio team was recognized as Top Fundraising Team for this event that raised nearly $20,000 to support The Justice & Diversity Center (“JDC”).

Boston Managing Partner Kathleen M. Donovan-Maher and Associate Steven L. Groopman co-authored an Op-Ed entitled “Why Dark Money Is Bad Business,” which ran in The New York Times on May 10, 2016. The Op-Ed addresses the recent debate surrounding a proposed SEC rule that would mandate disclosure of corporate political spending.

Represented by Berman DeValerio, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) reached a settlement with the credit rating agency Moody’s (defendants Moody’s Corp. and Moody’s Investors’ Services, Inc.), whereby Moody’s will pay CalPERS $130 million to settle CalPERS’ claim that “Aaa” ratings on three structured investment vehicles (SIVs) were negligent misrepresentations under California law. CalPERS previously settled with co-defendant McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. (“Standard & Poor’s” or “S&P”) for $125 million, which brings CalPERS’ total recovery in this case to $255 million.

Berman DeValerio’s Boston office sponsored its third volunteer trip to the Greater Boston Food Bank, the largest hunger-relief organization in New England. Twenty-one members of the firm spent three hours sorting pallets of food into organized relief boxes for the Greater Boston Food Bank’s network of local food pantries, shelters, and other communities in need.