Michael Stern

Recent Engagements and Successes

• Represented Cox Communications in a successful appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court of an adverse judgment and injunction in favor of T-Mobile. The reversal freed Cox to enter the half-billion dollar wireless services market and was featured in AmLaw’s March 11, 2022 Litigator of the Week column (First Runners-Up).
• Representing tobacco manufacturer in implementation of nation-wide injunctive remedy entered in connection with RICO claims brought by the Department of Justice in the District of D.C., requiring the placement of corrective-statement signs in over 200,000 retail stores. Serving as the client’s representative on a court-ordered group overseeing implementation of remedy.
• Secured dismissal on a motion to dismiss Securities Act of 1933 claims in the Northern District of Illinois against underwriters of a secondary public offering of stock by one of North America’s leading branded food companies.
• Defending Jernigan Capital, Inc. and its board of directors in parallel securities class actions in the Southern District of New York and Tennessee state court in connection with a take-private deal against claims brought under Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and for breach of fiduciary duties.
• Defending Pendrell Corporation and various officers and directors in a stockholder class action filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery, challenging a $2.1 billion SPAC merger between Holicity, Inc. and Astra Space, Inc., alleging breach of fiduciary duty and disclosure claims. In addition, defending Holicity officers and directors in related, parallel federal securities and fiduciary duty actions in the Northern District of California.
• Defending former CFO of an international pharmaceuticals firm in multi-billion dollar federal securities litigation in New Jersey federal and state court.
• Defending Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., and various officers and directors in a securities class action filed in the Northern District of California alleging violations of Sections 11, 12, and 15 of the Securities Act, and Sections 10(b), 14(a), and 20 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, related to the $1.6 billion SPAC merger between CF Finance Acquisition Corp. II and View, Inc.
• Represented field turf company in a jury trial in Illinois state court against Qui Tam claims brought under the Illinois False Claims Act.

Prior to joining Winston, Michael clerked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa and the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office. He also served as a Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) Graduate Fellow at the Chicago Legal Clinic, Inc.