Coughlin Stoia Wins Class Certification for HealthSouth Shareholders

Coughlin Stoia Wins Class Certification for HealthSouth Shareholders - 4/3/2009

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2009 News and Press Releases

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News	News 2009
HEADLINES \| SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS \| COURT FILINGS LINKS TO OTHER NEWS \| NEWS ARCHIVE	HEADLINES ARCHIVED SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS ARCHIVED

SETTLEMENT NEWS:

Coughlin Stoia Wins Class Certification for HealthSouth Shareholders
Alison Frankel

Law.com. April 3, 2009
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EXCERPT: Patrick Coughlin of Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins told our colleagues at The Recorder on Monday that if his firm won the assignment to represent two huge California pension funds in the securities class action against Bank of America, he might need to hire some new lawyers. Coughlin Stoia didn't get that job; as we reported Wednesday, the pension funds gave the nod to Grant & Eisenhofer. But thanks to a ruling Wednesday from Alabama federal district court judge Karen Bowdre, Coughlin Stoia should still be plenty busy. Bowdre certified a class of HealthSouth shareholders in a securities fraud case against HealthSouth's banker, UBS, and former CEO Richard Scrushy. (As we've previously reported, the shareholders have already settled with HealthSouth and, as of last week, its auditors from Ernst & Young.) The class certification comes after a long history in which motions were "more than amply briefed and vehemently argued," according to the judge. UBS, represented by Robert Giuffra, Jr., of Sullivan & Cromwell, relied heavily on the U.S. Supreme Court's Stoneridge opinion in arguing that there wasn't evidence of a direct fraud on the market by UBS. Bowdre, in language that's harshly critical of UBS, rejected that defense. The plaintiffs, she said, presented plenty of evidence "including testimony and internal UBS memoranda demonstrating the public nature of its misrepresentations and deceptive conduct." "She was paying attention to Stoneridge, but she said we could show market impact," Coughlin told the Litigation Daily. "Stoneridge says deceptive conduct has to impact the market. She found it did." Giuffra told us that UBS plans to ask the 11th Circuit for permission to appeal Bowdre's ruling. "The Court's decision contains numerous factual and legal errors," he said in an e-mail. "UBS intends to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to review this decision. We believe that UBS has excellent issues for appeal."

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