[2] In May 2004, Milberg was the largest plaintiff law firm in the United States, with over 200 attorneys, responsible, at least in part, for over 50 percent of all securities class action cases settled in 2002.
[15] Milestones in the firm's history include its involvement in the "US Financial" litigation in the early 1970s, one of the earliest large class actions, which resulted in the $50 million recovery for purchasers of the securities of a failed real estate development company.
Other cases included the Ninth Circuit decision in Blackie v. Barrack[16] in 1975, which established the fraud-on-the-market doctrine for securities fraud actions; the Firm's co-lead counsel position in the In re Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) Securities Litigation,[17] a seminal securities fraud action in the 1980s in terms of complexity and amounts recovered; the representation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in a year-long trial to recover banking losses from a major accounting firm, leading to a precedent-setting global settlement; attacking the Drexel-Milken "daisy chain" of illicit junk-bond financing arrangements with numerous cases that resulted in substantial recoveries for investors;[18] and representing life insurance policyholders defrauded by "vanishing premium" and other improper sales tactics and obtaining large recoveries from industry participants.
Even with claimants who made foreign purchases removed from the class after the Supreme Court's Morrison v. National Australia Bank decision, total damages claims exceeded $1 billion.
[20] Also in 2010, Milberg won a victory before the United States Supreme Court, which issued a decision (Merck & Co., Inc. v. Reynolds) addressing when an investor is placed on "inquiry notice" of securities fraud violation sufficient to trigger the statute of limitations under 28 U.S.C.
The suit was filed under the False Claims Act ("FCA"), which allows private citizens to sue companies that are defrauding the government and to receive an award for their efforts when the case is successful.
[23][24] On April 15, 2021, Milberg received a $11.1 million verdict on behalf of client Scott Kingston, who alleged IBM wrongfully terminated him after raising claims of racial bias in the treatment of his subordinates.
[29] In November 2022, Milberg brought suit against ExxonMobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and BP, accusing the fossil fuel giants of misrepresenting the dangers of their carbon-based products.
Circuit Court of Appeals in the case, first by winning a general causation verdict and then by raising the possibility that TVA and other coal ash producers could face similar lawsuits in the future.