Jeremy A. Lieberman

Petrobras and the Location of a Transaction

After Morrison v. National Australia Bank, federal securities law reaches securities listed on domestic exchanges and other securities transactions occurring in the United States. Petrobras required the investor class to apply that rule to American depositary shares, notes, and other transactions completed through different channels.

Pomerantz LLP served as sole lead counsel, and Lieberman led the firm’s work. The class record distinguished exchange-traded securities from notes whose domestic character depended on evidence such as contract formation, placement of purchase orders, exchange of money, and passage of title.

The Second Circuit rejected a freestanding requirement that plaintiffs demonstrate an administratively feasible method of identifying every class member at certification. It held that ascertainability depends on objective criteria and definite boundaries. That ruling became an important part of the modern law governing investor classes after Morrison.

A Billion Global Settlement

The Petrobras resolution combined .95 billion from Petrobras with million from PricewaterhouseCoopers Auditores Independentes. The final-approval record described more than three years of litigation, sixty-eight depositions, review of more than twenty-five million pages, extensive expert discovery, appellate proceedings, and trial preparation.

Notice reached more than one million potential class members around the world. Investors submitted claims tied to the security, transaction date and price, and a recognized-loss formula. Authorized claimants share the net fund pro rata after taxes, administration, expenses, and approved fees.

Judge Jed S. Rakoff approved the settlement and allocation as fair, reasonable, and adequate.

Perrigo Across Two Exchanges

Perrigo’s common stock traded on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Lieberman and the Pomerantz team represented investors in litigation concerning statements made during the company’s response to Mylan’s hostile tender offer.

The district court certified groups covering United States-exchange purchasers, Tel Aviv purchasers, and shareholders who held through the tender offer. The structure allowed federal and Israeli securities claims to proceed through coordinated class treatment while preserving the law applicable to each market.

After discovery, expert proceedings, and dispositive-motion practice, the parties reached a million cash settlement. The court entered final judgment in September 2024 and approved distribution in July 2025.

Teva and Direct Institutional Claims

Pomerantz also represented twenty-two Israeli institutional investors that pursued direct claims concerning Teva American depositary shares on the New York Stock Exchange and common shares on the Tel Aviv exchange.

The federal court retained the investors’ Israeli securities claims, finding substantial overlap in the discovery and witnesses concerning Teva’s United States generic-drug business. Pomerantz identifies Lieberman and Michael Wernke as leaders of the team and reports that the investors’ actions later resolved.

Working Across the Border

Lieberman joined Pomerantz in 2004 and has served as managing partner since 2016. He oversees the firm’s cases across six offices and represents plaintiffs in securities-fraud litigation.

The Petrobras, Perrigo, and Teva records present different procedural forms—a global class, coordinated federal and Israeli classes, and direct institutional actions. Across them, Lieberman’s work centers on transaction evidence, class boundaries, foreign-law coordination, and the administration of recoveries across markets.

That work also requires coordination among institutional plaintiffs, foreign and domestic counsel, economic experts, notice providers, and claims administrators. Transaction confirmations and market records determine who belongs in a recovery, while allocation rules translate different securities and purchase histories into a court-supervised distribution.

He earned his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, where he served on the Fordham Urban Law Journal.