David C. Katz

David Katz is a principal in the New York office and has been an advocate of investors’ rights for over twenty years. Currently, Mr. Katz serves as the chair of WeissLaw’s Corporate Governance Litigation Practice Group. He is a 1988 Graduate of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He is admitted to the New York State Bar, the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the United States Courts of Appeal for the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Circuits.

Mr. Katz has successfully served as the firm’s chief litigator in numerous derivative actions involving corporations and issues of national prominence. When Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored public corporation entrusted with maintaining liquidity in the United States’ mortgage markets, announced one of the largest financial restatements in corporate history, he successfully spearheaded the effort to recover the company’s damages, recouping more than $100 million (Sadowsky Testamentary Trust v. Brendsel et al. f/b/o Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, 05 cv 2596). When Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. was implicated in a bid rigging and business steering scheme, Mr. Katz served as the firm’s chief litigator pressing claims on behalf of the company, which efforts were a material factor in securing payment of $205 million, and were instrumental in obtaining payment of $35 million to the company from its insurers (In re: Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. Derivative Litigation, 753-VCS). Mr. Katz also represented shareholders seeking a recovery for First Energy Corp. in the wake of the nation’s largest power-outage in history and the closure of the company’s nuclear facility resulting from mismanagement and failures in oversight, recouping $25 million for the Company (In re FirstEnergy Shareholder Derivative Litigation, 03 cv 1826). Substantial corporate governance reforms were implemented for the benefit of the subject corporations and their shareholders in each of these cases.

In the securities class action field, Mr. Katz has successfully served as the firm’s chief litigator in numerous actions as well. Mr. Katz was the firm’s chief counsel in Levitan v. McCoy et al. and Bank One Corp., 00 C 5096 (concerning Bank One’s acquisition of First Commerce), securing approximately $40 million. Mr. Katz also served as the firm’s chief counsel in Daugherty v. Hastings Entertainment, Inc. (2:00-CV-160-J), recovering over $6.3 million for the class. He won the remand of In re Lernout & Hauspie Securities Litigation, 99-10237 (NG), from the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, subsequently recovering nearly $4 million for the class. Mr. Katz served on the team that won the Ninth Circuit’s reversal of the directed verdict entered at trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in an action concerning Everex Systems, Inc. (Howard v. Everex Systems, Inc., et al., 92 cv 03742).

Mr. Katz is a father of two daughters and his wife is an elected member of the Town of Mamaroneck Town Council. He is active in his community and a member of the Larchmont Gardens Civic Association.