With its way-too-late focus on digital photography, Eastman Kodak and its executives were doggedly optimistic about the company’s prospects—right up to its bankruptcy filing in early 2012. That sent shareholders into attack mode.
A Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher team led by Palo Alto–based partner Jonathan Dickey won dismissal of a securities class action that accused Kodak of lying about its progress toward a digital transformation and hiding its plans to file for bankruptcy. Represented by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd and Holzer & Fistel, the plaintiffs persuaded U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. of the Southern District of New York to let them refile their claims against Kodak. Gibson secured complete dismissal of the claims this April, convincing Baer that statements made by Kodak executives were little more than corporate puffery.
