Merrill G. Davidoff is a senior shareholder in the Antitrust,
Securities, Environmental & Mass Tort, and Commercial
Litigation practice groups at Berger & Montague, and a Managing
Principal of the Firm.
During his extensive legal career, Mr. Davidoff has concentrated
on high-profile matters yielding significant monetary recoveries
for diverse clients, including Burger King Corporation; John I.
Haas, Inc.; Joh. Barth & Sohn, A.G.; Karhu, Inc.; Rexroth
Corporation/Rexroth GmbH; ADVO System, Inc.; the LeFrak
Organization; Mannesmann A.G.; Championship Auto Racing Teams,
Inc.; Cascade Steel Rolling Mills, Inc.; Carpenter Technology
Corp.; the State of New Jersey; the State of Ohio; and the City of
Philadelphia. In his representation of the State of New Jersey, Mr.
Davidoff secured a $45 million "opt-out" settlement in the Qwest
securities litigation. He currently represents the State of
New Jersey in "opt-out" litigation against former Lehman Brothers
Inc. officers and directors. He has also represented many other
large and small companies, sports teams, professional
organizations, individuals and professional firms.
Mr. Davidoff has acted as lead counsel and trial counsel in
numerous antitrust, commercial, environmental, and securities
cases. He represented Championship Auto Racing Teams ("CART"), a
major Indy-car race-sanctioning organization, in a series of
antitrust cases against Indianapolis Motor Speedway and others.
Other representations include:
Co-lead and trial counsel for a plaintiff class in the first
mass tort class action trial in federal court which resulted in a
precedent-setting settlement for class members, In re
Louisville Explosions Litigation; lead counsel for Applicant
(plaintiff) in three evidentiary hearings before the Canadian
Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission ("CRTC")
Decisions (Challenge Communications, Ltd. v. Bell Canada).
The hearings resulted in the first precedent-breaking Bell Canada's
monopoly over the telecommunications equipment which was connected
to its telephone network; lead counsel in the Revco Securities
Litigation, an innovative "junk bond" class action, which settled
for $36 million; lead plaintiffs' counsel and lead trial counsel in
In re Melridge
Securities Litigation, tried to jury verdicts for $88
million (securities fraud) and $240 million (RICO); co-lead counsel
for the class in In re
Graphite Electrodes Antitrust Litigation, an international
price-fixing case which yielded settlements ranging from 18% to 32%
of the plaintiffs' and class' purchases from the defendants
(aggregate settlements totaled $134 million); one of co-lead
counsel in the Ikon
Securities Litigation, in which a settlement of $111
million was obtained; co-lead counsel and designated lead trial
counsel in the In Re Sunbeam
Securities Litigation, where settlements of $142
million were reached.
Mr. Davidoff also concentrates his practice in
representation in commodities futures and options as well as
derivatives matters. He has represented market-makers on the
Philadelphia Stock Exchange, where he owned a member firm in the
1990s, as well as broker-dealers and market-makers on other
exchanges.
Prominent Judgments & Settlements
- In the Rocky
Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant class action where Mr.
Davidoff is lead counsel, the Court held the United States
Department of Energy in contempt of court after a one week trial in
November, 1995 (reported at 907 F. Supp. 1460 (D. Colo. 1995)). In
2005-2006, this class action finally went to trial (with Mr.
Davidoff as lead trial counsel) and, in February 2006, the jury
returned a special verdict for the plaintiffs for $554 million, the
largest property damage class action jury verdict ever. The verdict
was the third-largest jury verdict of 2006 in the United States,
according to The National Law Journal. In 2008, after
extensive post-trial motions, the District Court entered a $926
million judgment for plaintiffs in this case, resulting in the
trial team's nomination as a finalist for the coveted "Trial Lawyer
of the Year" award by the Public Justice Foundation. In July, 2009,
the trial team led by Mr. Davidoff won the Public Justice "Trial
Lawyer of the Year" award for its work on the Rocky Flats
case. That judgment was vacated on appeal; appellate
proceedings are continuing;
- In re
Foreign Currency Fee Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1409,
where Mr. Davidoff and Berger & Montague are co-lead
counsel, a proposed class action settlement of $336 million with
Visa, MasterCard, and a number of their member banks was approved
by the District Court (SDNY). Also in MDL 1409, an antitrust
case challenging arbitration clauses imposed by credit card banks;
Mr. Davidoff (as lead counsel) reached settlements with JPMorgan
Chase, Bank of America, HSBC and Capital One resulting in the
elimination of these compulsory consumer arbitration clauses,
approved by the district court in 2010;
-
In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust
Litigation, MDL No. 1720, one of the largest pending
antitrust cases in the United States, H. Laddie Montague, Jr., Mr.
Davidoff and Berger & Montague are one of the three
Court-appointed co-lead counsel.