Ethical Considerations in Settling a Class Action Update

Deborah Renner focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, including the defense of consumer fraud, data breach, ERISA, and securities class actions. Deborah has successfully defended numerous companies in nationwide, multidistrict and state class actions. She has defeated class certification in courts around the country and has won the dismissal of class claims at the outset of numerous actions. Deborah frequently advises companies on class action defense and regulatory inquiries. Among her areas of knowledge and experience, Deborah is certified in information privacy.

Experience

• Won complete dismissal of data breach class action. Polanco v. Omnicell, Inc., 2013 WL 6823265 (D.N.J. Dec. 26, 2013).
• Represented amicus on winning side in seminal class action cases in U.S. Supreme Court. Standard Fire v. Knowles, 133 S. Ct. 1345 (2013);Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 133 S. Ct. 1426 (2013).
• Represents broker-dealer in securities class action.
• Represents company in Civil Investigative Demand by state attorney general regarding data privacy and security practices.
• Won summary judgment in a putative class action concerning alleged fraud in the pricing of long-term care insurance. Rakes v. Life Investors Ins. Co. of America, 2008 WL 2158717 (N.D. Iowa June 20, 2008), aff'd, 2009 WL 2981976 (8th Cir. Sept. 18, 2009).
• Won the complete dismissal of a securities fraud class action alleging violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. Medis Investor Group v. Medis Technologies, Ltd., 586 F.Supp.2d 136 (S.D.N.Y. 2008), aff'd, 2009 WL 2171277 (2d Cir. July 21, 2009).
• Since 2009, as a lead attorney on the BakerHostetler team that serves as counsel to Irving H. Picard, SIPA Trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, Deborah managed a team of attorneys in Picard v. JPMorgan Chase, which resolved in two settlements totaling $543 million for the SIPA Trustee and class action plaintiffs and which led to a $1.7 billion forfeiture to the United States Attorney's Office. In addition, Deborah has focused her efforts on enforcing the U.S. Bankruptcy Court's automatic stay and otherwise seeking injunctions to stop class actions and other cases from proceeding. Deborah's reported decisions include: 
• Picard v. Fox, 429 B.R. 423 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2010), aff'd, In re Madoff, 848 F.Supp.2d 469 (S.D.N.Y. 2012), aff'd, 740 F.3d 81 (2d Cir. 2014).
• Picard v. Stahl, 443 B.R. 295 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2011), aff'd, In re Bernard L. Madoff Inv. Sec. LLC, 2011 WL 7981599 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 5, 2011), aff'd, The Lautenberg Found. v. Picard, 512 Fed.Appx. 18 (2d Cir. 2013).
• Picard v. Maxam Absolute Return Fund, L.P., 460 B.R. 106 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2011), aff'd, 474 B.R. 76 (S.D.N.Y. 2012).
• In re Bernard L. Madoff, 477 B.R. 351 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2012), aff'd, 2013 WL 551027 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 30. 2013).
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• Recognition
• New York Metro "Super Lawyer"
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• Memberships
• American Bar Association, Section of Litigation Class Action and Derivative Suits 
• International Association of Privacy Professionals 
• Certified Information Privacy Professional (U.S.)
• Defense Research Institute, Appellate Advocacy Section
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• Pro Bono
• Deborah frequently works with Immigration Equality, helping gay, lesbian, transgendered and HIV positive individuals gain asylum in the United States.
• She works closely with the Brooklyn Bar Association's Volunteer Lawyers Association, and has served on its Advisory Board.
• Services
• Appellate and Major Motions
• Class Action Defense
• Complex Commercial Litigation
• Prior Positions
• Fordham University Law School: Adjunct Assistant Professor of Class Action Law (2002 to 2006)
• Admissions
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York
• New York
• District of Columbia [Inactive]
• Education
• J.D., Harvard Law School, 1992, cum laude
• M.A., Princeton University, 1987
• B.A., The Johns Hopkins University, 1984, with honors
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Kimberly Kalmanson is an attorney with a private practice in New York City. Concentrating her practice on business and commercial litigation and transactions, Ms. Kalmanson represents a variety of clients in commercial lawsuits, primarily involving contract, securities, and fraud disputes in both federal and state court, as well as before FINRA and the American Arbitration Association. 

Prior to establishing a solo practice, Ms. Kalmanson prosecuted and managed complex securities fraud cases against national and international companies and banking institutions on behalf of institutional investors at Labaton Sucharow LLP. There, Ms. Kalmanson’s primary focus was on residential mortgage-backed securities and the subprime mortgage lending and securitization industries. In addition, Ms. Kalmanson was primarily responsible for, and coordinated and managed multiple bankruptcy claims in a high profile federal bankruptcy. Before joining Labaton Sucharow, Ms. Kalmanson was an associate at Dentons US LLP (formerly, Sonnenschein, Nath and Rosenthal LLP and SNR Denton US LLP) where her practice focused on complex civil litigation, as well as white collar criminal and government investigations work. At Dentons, Ms. Kalmanson represented banks, institutional lenders and insurance companies in a variety of suits arising out of defaulted and distressed assets. Ms. Kalmanson has represented a variety of clients in breach of contract and fraud actions. One notable matter involved obtaining a $76 million summary judgment award on behalf of a European banking group in a suit in in New York federal court against loan guarantors, a judgment that was affirmed on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In addition, Ms. Kalmanson represented an insurance carrier in a suit to adjudicate the obligations of a financial institution managing a reference pool of assets underlying a series of credit swap transactions. Ms. Kalmanson has also represented a variety of institutions and individuals in government and internal investigations.