Craig TenBroeck

Cooley successfully defended Activision Blizzard and certain officers in a securities class action filed in the Central District of California alleging the company made false and misleading statements regarding the termination of its partnership with Bungie LLC and its future involvement with the Destiny video game franchise. The court ultimately granted our motion to dismiss and the plaintiff did not appeal the trial court’s ruling.

Cooley obtained a victory for Qualcomm and its executives in a securities class action filed in the Southern District of California. The plaintiffs, relying heavily on “confidential witnesses,” alleged the company misled investors by failing to disclose overheating problems with a high-end chipset and the impending loss of a large customer. Piercing through these allegations, the court granted our motion to dismiss with leave to amend after oral argument. Plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint and we filed and argued another motion to dismiss. The court ultimately granted our second motion to dismiss with prejudice, and the ruling was affirmed on appeal.

Cooley advised Stratasys, a leading 3D printing solutions company, on its successful resolution of an Eighth Circuit appeal. In the decision, a three-judge panel affirmed the dismissal of a securities class action complaint asserting claims under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.

The lawsuit centered on Stratasys subsidiary MakerBot, a 3D printer manufacturer focused on consumer desktop 3D printing, and MakerBot’s release of its “fifth generation” or “5G” desktop 3D printers in 2014. Plaintiffs claimed that Stratasys’s public statements about the 5G printers were false or misleading.

The lawsuit was originally dismissed by Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the US District Court for the District of Minnesota. The Eighth Circuit agreed with the lower court that the plaintiffs fell short of adequately pleading their claim.

Stratasys, which trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market as “SSYS,” provides applied additive technology solutions for industries including aerospace, automotive, healthcare, consumer products and education. MakerBot was founded in 2009 and was one of the first companies to make 3D printing accessible and affordable.

Cooley obtained a complete victory for client Patheon, a defendant in a three-year $380 million antitrust case brought by Procaps in the United States District Court in Miami.

Patheon is a leading global provider of outsourced pharmaceutical development and manufacturing services. Procaps is a Colombia-based corporation that develops, manufactures and commercializes pharmaceutical products, veterinary, nutritional supplements and cosmetics.

In January 2012, Patheon and Procaps signed a seven-year collaboration agreement to provide softgel development and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. In December 2012, Patheon announced its intention to acquire Banner Pharmacaps, a leading softgel manufacturer. Procaps sued Patheon, seeking to enjoin the acquisition on the grounds that it would convert the collaboration agreement into an illegal market division and was, therefore, a "per se" violation of US antitrust laws.

After Cooley stopped Procaps' effort to block the acquisition, the company proceeded with the litigation, demanding more than $380 million in damages and equitable relief, including divestiture of Banner Pharmacaps and the return of confidential information.

During discovery, Patheon uncovered that Procaps failed to issue a litigation hold and otherwise failed to preserve potentially relevant evidence or satisfy its eDiscovery obligations. Thus, on Patheon's motion, the court ordered a full forensic analysis of Procaps' computer systems. Over the following year and half, Procaps supplemented its original production with 150,000 documents.

In 2014, Cooley won summary judgment on all claims for Patheon, after which the court allowed Procaps to amend its complaint to add a new antitrust claim under the "rule of reason" standard. The case effectively started over.

Following a second round of discovery, Patheon filed a second summary judgment. On October 29, 2015, two weeks before trial was to begin, the court granted Patheon summary judgment in full, dismissing the case.

Cooley, along with the ACLU, Brancart & Brancart and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, has filed a lawsuit against the city of Escondido, California charging that it employed zoning and land use pretexts to discriminate against vulnerable children fleeing violence and persecution in Central America. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of Southwest Key, alleges violations of federal and state fair housing laws and the United States Constitution.

As required by law, the federal government contracts with organizations such as Southwest Key to provide housing for children fleeing violence and persecution. Many of the children ultimately qualify for asylum or legal status, allowing them to remain in the United States.

In February 2014, Southwest Key approached the city of Escondido about potential locations to house unaccompanied children awaiting placement with parents, relatives or other caregivers while their immigration cases are pending. When Southwest Key first approached the city, it sought to convert a motel site located in a commercial zone into housing for the unaccompanied children. However, the city's staff rejected that proposal claiming it was not allowed despite the fact that the municipal code permitted "residential care facilities" in the subject commercial zone. Attempting to work with the city, Southwest Key agreed to suspend an appeal from that decision and to pursue a conditional use permit to convert a former skilled nursing facility located in a residential zone in another part of the city.

In June 2014, before the city's Planning Commission held its hearing on the conditional use permit for the nursing home, Escondido Mayor Sam Abed publicly opposed the project, claiming it was a "federal" issue he did not want in Escondido. The Planning Commission then unanimously rejected the proposal.

The City Council held a hearing on Southwest Key's appeal in October 2014. Opposing the appeal, members of the public stated, "We don't want these people in our neighborhood," and reminded the City Council, "You are sitting up there right now because the majority of the people wanted you there, not the minority. Speak for the majority." The City Council voted 4-1 to deny Southwest Key's appeal.

Joseph Rich, co-director of the Fair Housing and Community Development Project at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said: "Such statements have been found by many courts to be coded language for racial and national origin animus and to support findings of discrimination that violate the Fair Housing Act and other civil rights laws."