City of Sterling Heights General Employees' Retirement System v. Citigroup Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 28, 2021
Docket1:20-cv-09573
StatusUnknown

This text of City of Sterling Heights General Employees' Retirement System v. Citigroup Inc. (City of Sterling Heights General Employees' Retirement System v. Citigroup Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Sterling Heights General Employees' Retirement System v. Citigroup Inc., (S.D.N.Y. 2021).

Opinion

BLEICHMAR -ONTI & AULD Javier Bleichmar Partner 212 789 1341 direct 212 205 3961 fax jbleichmar @ bfalaw.com

DOCUMENT January 26, 2021 ELECTRONICALLY FILED DOCH VIA ECF DATE FILED: 1/28/2021 The Honorable Alison J. Nathan United States District Court Southern District of New York Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse 40 Foley Square, Room 2102 New York, New York 10007 Re: City of Sunrise Firefighters’ Pension Fund v. Citigroup Inc., et al., No. 1:20-cv- 09132-AJN (S.D.N.Y.); City of Sterling Heights General Employees’ Retirement System v. Citigroup Inc., et al., No. 20-cv-09573-AJN (S.D.N.Y.); Timothy Lim v. Citigroup Inc. et al., No. 20-cv-10360-AJN (S.D.N.Y.) Dear Judge Nathan: We represent Lead Plaintiff Movant Public Sector Pension Investment Board (“PSP”’) in the above-referenced matters. Pursuant to Section 3(B) of the Court’s Individual Practices in Civil Cases and Local Civil Rule 7.1(d), we respectfully request permission to submit a sur-reply to the reply memorandum filed by Lead Plaintiff movant KBC Asset Management NV and Pembroke Pines Firefighters & Police Officers Pension Fund (“KBC and Pembroke”). See ECF No. 51. The proposed sur-reply is attached as Exhibit 1 together with the accompanying declaration of Javier Bleichmar and two referenced exhibits. A sur-reply is necessary because KBC and Pembroke raise new facts and issues for the first time on reply. The new facts and issues relate to the calculation of the financial interest for PSP, as well as KBC and Pembroke, which is the subject of the pending Lead Plaintiff motions. See ECF Nos. 25, 37. For the first time on reply, KBC and Pembroke put forward an unpled, partial disclosure in August 2018 to increase their recoverable losses or contend that the Court should not consider what they stand to recover in this case. See ECF No. 51 at 5-9. The August 2018 disclosure was never mentioned in the three complaints investors filed, including the complaint filed by KBC and Pembroke’s counsel in City of Sunrise (ECF No. 1), the notices published to investors apprising them of this case, or in any of the briefs previously filed by KBC and Pembroke or any other Lead Plaintiff movant. KBC and Pembroke also submitted on reply a 22-page expert report in support of their new position. This Court has rejected attempts virtually identical to those of KBC and Pembroke here. See Maliarov vy. Eros Int’l PLC, 2016 WL 1367246, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 5, 2016) (Nathan, J.) (rejecting attempt by movant to inject “additional disclosure allegations in the eleventh hour”

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BLEICHMAR mu FONTI & AULD Hon. Alison J. Nathan January 26, 2021 Page 2 when “(t]he specter of gamesmanship . . . causes the Court to question whether [movant] will ‘fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class’”’). PSP respectfully requests

Respectfully submitted, SO ORDERED.

/s/ Javier Bleichmar A N 1/27/2021 Javier Bleichmar

cc: All counsel of record (via ECF)

EXHIBIT 1

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ) CITY OF SUNRISE FIREFIGHTERS’ ) Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-09132 PENSION FUND, individually and on behalf of ) all others similarly situated, ) CLASS ACTION ) Plaintiff, ) ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED ) v. ) ) CITIGROUP INC., MICHAEL L. CORBAT, ) JOHN C. GERSPACH, and MARK A. L. ) MASON, ) ) Defendants. ) ) CITY OF STERLING HEIGHTS GENERAL ) Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-09573 EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM, ) Individually and on Behalf of All Others ) CLASS ACTION Similarly Situated, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) CITIGROUP INC., MICHAEL L. CORBAT, ) JOHN C. GERSPACH and MARK A.L. ) MASON ) ) Defendants. ) ) (caption continues on following page) SURREPLY MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN FURTHER SUPPORT OF THE MOTION OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR PENSION INVESTMENT BOARD FOR APPOINTMENT AS LEAD PLAINTIFF, APPROVAL OF ITS SELECTION OF LEAD COUNSEL, AND CONSOLIDATION OF RELATED ACTIONS ) TIMOTHY LIM, individually and on ) Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-10360 behalf of all others similarly situated, ) ) CLASS ACTION Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) CITIGROUP INC., MICHAEL L. ) CORBAT, JOHN C. GERSPACH, and ) MARK A. L. MASON, ) ) Defendants. ) TABLE OF CONTENTS PRELIMINARY STATEMENT .................................................................................................1 ARGUMENT ..............................................................................................................................2 A. Financial Interest Analysis Must Be Based On Facts Alleged In The Complaints .............2 B. The August 2018 Disclosure Is Inconsistent With The Filed Complaints .........................6 C. KBC And Pembroke’s Expert Report Is Untimely And Conclusory .................................7 PRELIMINARY STATEMENT KBC and Pembroke agree that PSP has the largest recoverable loss under Dura based on the facts alleged in the complaints, including the complaint that their own counsel filed (“City of Sunrise”).1 See ECF No. 51 at 9. Because this undermines their motion, KBC and Pembroke, for the first time on reply, attempt to introduce a new, unpled partial disclosure in August 2018 to

increase their Dura loss or to avoid the application of Dura altogether. This Court rejected a virtually identical attempt in Eros, finding that inserting “additional disclosure allegations in the eleventh hour” is the type of “gamesmanship” that caused the Court to “question whether [the movant] will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.” Maliarov v. Eros Int’l PLC, 2016 WL 1367246, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 5, 2016) (Nathan, J.). Crediting this new unpled allegation would in the future not only reward the proverbial moving of the goal posts, but also undermine the PSLRA’s statutory framework because “individuals who would otherwise be able to meet the requirements of a lead plaintiff motion under the expanded partial disclosure date would be precluded from filing such motions given the

expiration of the PSLRA’s time limit for doing so.” Id. What’s more, KBC and Pembroke’s counsel appear to have excluded this disclosure from their City of Sunrise complaint because it is inconsistent with its allegations. Paragraph 48 specifically lists four instances between December 2017 and November 2019 in which regulators fined Citigroup, but that paragraph excluded the August 2018 announcement of an $8 million fine. See ECF No. 1. The City of Sunrise complaint then explicitly alleges that despite these “multiple regulatory fines,” “Citi’s stock price [] trade[d] at artificially inflated prices throughout the Class

1 Citations to ECF No. __ refer to the docket in City of Sunrise; capitalized terms are defined in PSP’s initial and opposition briefs (ECF Nos. 39, 49); and emphasis is added. Period” until August 2020 when “The Truth Emerges.” ¶¶48-50. KBC and Pembroke do not explain how the $8 million fine in August 2018 could have revealed the truth when the complaint their counsel filed states that $160 million in fines was insufficient to do so. The August 2018 disclosure was also never mentioned in the two other complaints investors filed, in any of the briefs filed by KBC and Pembroke, or by any other Lead Plaintiff

movant. Rather, KBC and Pembroke stated in their opening brief that “[t]he truth began to emerge [two years later] on August 13, 2020.” ECF No. 28 at 4. Crediting this August 2018 announcement as a corrective disclosure now would be inconsistent with KBC and Pembroke’s prior arguments. To be clear, PSP, if appointed Lead Plaintiff, will review all these announcements of regulatory fines on the merits and assess, objectively and impartially, whether they belong in this case. But it is counter to well-established legal precedent for Lead Plaintiff movants to introduce new facts outside of the four corners of the complaints that increase their losses.

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City of Sterling Heights General Employees' Retirement System v. Citigroup Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-sterling-heights-general-employees-retirement-system-v-citigroup-nysd-2021.