DRRT's Global Loss Recovery Blog

The court proceedings pending since January 2009 between DRRT attorney Christian Wefers – as model plaintiff for more than 100 DRRT clients – and HRE have now been successfully settled, making history for model proceedings under the German Capital Markets Model Case Act (KapMuG). This settlement follows the settlement of the Telekom model proceedings in 2021, which were the first major German Capital Markets model proceedings and had been ongoing since 2001.

DRRT was delighted to host its 12th Annual Global Investor Loss Recovery Conference in Frankfurt on May 12 and 13. Among the speakers, we were honored to have Mr. Kevin LaCroix, author of the popular The D&O Diary. Mr. LaCroix posted a blog post highlighting his time in Germany. We invite you to visit The D&O Diary. 

DRRT proudly supports the education and wellbeing of future generations in their pursuit of personal success. DRRT is passionate about educating students to ensure a bright future for our communities throughout South Florida, across this country and abroad. DRRT has a long and proud history of community involvement, providing for charitable causes, and engaging in philanthropic activities.

Leading by example, DRRT is proud to announce it has created The Future Lawyers Scholarship with The Miami Foundation. Through this program, DRRT will provide funds to help students gain access to higher education. DRRT firmly attests that increasing young people’s educational attainment is a critical factor for Greater Miami’s growth.

DRRT continues its forward momentum by adding Spain to the extensive list of countries in which it operates via involvement in the ongoing criminal proceedings against Abengoa seeking recovery for losses arising out of the company’s accounting fraud and manipulation.

As a result of Abengoa’s blatant accounting manipulation, in January 2017 the Spanish firm IUS + AEQUITAS, a member of the Diaz, Reus & Targ (DRT) International Law Firm & Alliance, filed a criminal complaint on behalf of hundreds of affected investors seeking losses against Abengoa and others including its former president, CEO,and auditor Deloitte. DRRT is working directly with IUS + AEQUITAS to add affected investors to the criminal proceeding during the current investigation phase on a risk-free, “no win, no fee” basis.

On Saturday, September 11, 2021, DRRT's Director and Assistant Managing Partner, Joseph Gulino spoke at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime.

To opt-out, that is the question. An opt-out action is when an investor chooses to remove itself as a class member of a securities class action suit with the intention of filing a direct action against the defendant. There are many reasons why it may be advantageous for an investor to proceed in this manner. As we have had an abundance of experience with direct action opt-outs, if the damages are large enough, this will likely be the best course of action for the institutional investor.

Globally, whistleblowers are afforded greater protections today than ever before, but the threats that come along with unveiling corruption still prevent people from coming forward. The United States offers a great body of laws and protections for whistleblowers, more than any other country, and this is reflected in the number of whistleblower reports and also the amount of awards granted each year. EU member states, including Germany, are also implementing new protections for whistleblowers, but lag behind their American counterparts. Overall corporate governance guidelines and trends have had an effect on the whistleblowing industry as people are encouraged to come forward from inside any affected companies. However, although there is some progress in certain geographic locations, the world needs to encourage whistleblowers to come forward and report wrongdoing. The result will be a better and more sustainable world.

On March 23, international law firm DRRT hosted an online webinar called “Whistleblowers and Reporters: Importance of Access to Information.” DRRT mainly focuses on litigation outside of the U.S., where discovery is not possible. The firm stressed the importance that both whistleblowers and journalists have in releasing information critical for investors’ efforts to recover from damages the investors have incurred. The virtual event featured Jonathan Taylor, a whistleblower who exposed corruption and bribery in Dutch company SBM Offshore. The webinar also included Georgina Halford-Hall, chief executive of not-for-profit organization WhistleblowersUK, John Kostyack of the National Whistleblower Center (NWC), Lord Cromwell of the House of Lords in the UK, and Tom Warren, a forensic journalist from BuzzFeed News.

Copenhagen, Denmark: On Monday, September 21, 2020, Danish boutique litigation firm KLAR Advokater filed a fifth and final round of complaints against Danske Bank A/S for damages on behalf of 55 institutional investors clients of DRRT and Grant & Eisenhofer. With this additional round of claims totaling over DKK 1.071 billion (€144 million/$169 million) the total amount of the DRRT/G&E group of claims comes to DKK 6.786 billion (€912 million/$1.071 billion) and the number of claimants to 303. The cases were filed in the Copenhagen City Court.

In another example of DRRT's commitment and support of our local community in the challenging times surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, DRRT made a financial contribution of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade in late April 2020. The contribution will allow The Boys and Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade to continue serving the younger citizens of our community during these challenging times.

DRRT will continue to support our local community and we thank our clients who make this possible.