Pomerantz LLP

Securities Litigation

Partner

Michael J. Wernke joined Pomerantz as Of Counsel in 2014 and was elevated to Partner in 2015. He was named a 2020 Plaintiffs’ Lawyer Trailblazer by the National Law Journal, an award created to “honor a handful of individuals from each practice area that are truly agents of change.”

Michael, along with Managing Partner Jeremy Lieberman, led the litigation in Pirnik v. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. et al., No. 1:15-cv-07199-JMF (S.D.N.Y), in which the Firm, as Lead Counsel, achieved a $110 million settlement for the class. This high-profile securities class action alleges that Fiat Chrysler concealed from investors that it improperly outfitted its diesel vehicles with “defeat device” software designed to cheat NOx emissions regulations in the U.S. and Europe, and that regulators had accused Fiat Chrysler of violating the emissions regulations. The Fiat Chrysler recovery provides the class of investors with as much as 20% of recoverable damages—an excellent result when compared to historical statistics in class action settlements, where typical recoveries for cases of this size are between 1.6% and 3.3%.

Michael led the securities class action Zwick Partners, LP v. Quorum Health Corp., et al., No. 3:16-cv-2475, achieving a settlement of $18,000,000 for the class in June 2020. The settlement represented between 12.7% and 42.9% of estimated recoverable damages. Plaintiff alleged that defendants misrepresented to investors the poor prospects of hospitals that the parent company spun off into a stand-alone company. In defeating defendants’ motions to dismiss the complaint, Michael successfully argued that company from which Quorum was spun off was a “maker” of the false statements even though all the alleged false statements concerned only Quorum’s financials and the class involved only purchasers of Quorum’s common stock. This was a tremendous victory for plaintiffs, as cases alleging false statements of goodwill notoriously struggle to survive motions to dismiss.

Along with Managing Partner Jeremy Lieberman, Michael leads the Firm’s individual action against pharmaceutical giant Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. (together, “Teva”), and certain of Teva’s current and former employees and officers, relating to alleged anticompetitive practices in Teva’s sales of generic drugs. Teva is a dual-listed company; the Firm represents several Israeli institutional investors who purchased Teva shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. In early 2021, Pomerantz achieved a major victory for global investors when the district court agreed to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the Israeli law claims. Clal Insurance Company Ltd. v. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

In December 2018, Michael, along with Pomerantz Managing Partner Jeremy A. Lieberman, secured a $31 million partial settlement with three defendants in In re Libor Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, a closely watched multi-district litigation, which concerns the LIBOR rigging scandal.

In October 2018, Michael secured a $15 million settlement in In re Symbol Technologies, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 2:05-cv-03923-DRH-AKT (E.D.N.Y.), a securities class action that alleges that, following an accounting fraud by prior management, Symbol’s management misled investors about the state of its internal controls and the Company’s ability to forecast revenues.

He was Lead Counsel in Thomas v. Magnachip Semiconductor Corp., in which he achieved a $23.5 million partial settlement with certain defendants, securing the settlement despite an ongoing investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and shareholder derivative actions. He played a leading role in In re Lumber Liquidators, Inc. Securities Litigation, in which Pomerantz, as Co-Lead Counsel, achieved a settlement of $26 million in cash and 1,000,000 shares of Lumber Liquidators common stock for the Class. Michael also secured a $7 million settlement (over 30% of the likely recoverable damages) in the securities class action Todd v. STAAR Surgical Company, et. al., No. 14-cv-05263-MWF-RZ (C.D. Cal.), which alleged that STAAR concealed from investors violations of FDA regulations that threatened the approval of STAAR’s long awaited new product.

In the securities class action In re Atossa Genetics, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 13-cv-01836-RSM (W.D. Wash.), Michael secured a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that reversed the district court’s dismissal of the complaint. The Ninth Circuit held that the CEO’s public statements that the company’s flagship product had been approved by the FDA were misleading despite the fact that the company’s previously filed registration statement stated that that the product did not, at that time, require FDA approval.

During the nine years prior to coming to Pomerantz, Michael was a litigator with Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, with his primary focus in the securities defense arena, where he represented multinational financial institutions and corporations, playing key roles in two of only a handful of securities class actions to go to jury verdict since the passage of the PSLRA.

In 2020 and 2021, Michael was honored as a Super Lawyers® “Top Rated Securities Litigation Attorney.” In 2014 and 2015, he was recognized as a Super Lawyers® New York Metro Rising Star.

Michael received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2004. He also holds a B.S. in Mathematics and a B.A. in Political Science from Ohio State University, where he graduated summa cum laude

He serves on the Firm’s Anti-Harassment and Discrimination Committee.

Michael is admitted to practice in the State of New York, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the United States Supreme Court.