Barbara Hart
Chief Operating Officer
E-mail: bhart@lowey.com
vcard: Click Here
New York Office
White Plains Plaza
One North Broadway
White Plains, NY 10601-2310
Phone: 914-733-7227
Fax: 914-997-0035
Ms. Hart has earned an AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating a lawyer can obtain, indicating a very high to preeminent legal ability and exceptional ethical standards as established by confidential opinions from members of the Bar.
Ms. Hart in on the Executive Committee of the New York State Antitrust Committee and a member of the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys
Barbara J. Hart is the Chief Operating Officer and head of Lowey Dannenberg’s securities litigation practice. She represents a broad range of clients in complex class action litigation, with a particular emphasis on securities and antitrust litigation.
She is Lead Counsel in the Juniper Networks Securities Litigation involving allegations of massive options backdating. On April 12, 2010 the Court preliminarily approved a $169,000,000 settlement of the allegations. The recovery is the third largest of any of the dozens and dozens of litigations involving options backdating and as a percentage of damages is a robust recovery. Final approval is scheduled to be heard before Judge Ware on August 30, 2010.
Ms. Hart is Lead Counsel in several litigations involving Madoff Feeder Funds including Beacon Associates I & II; Income Plus and claims brought against Jeanneret Associates, Ivy Asset Management and The Bank of New York Mellon.
Ms. Hart served as Counsel to the Office of the Treasurer of the State of Connecticut in the In re Waste Management Securities Litigation, which was settled for $457 million and was the third-largest securities class action settlement in history. Ms. Hart was co-lead counsel in the In re El Paso Corporation Securities Litigation, garnering a $285 million settlement. In addition, she led the team prosecuting the In re Amgen Corporation Securities Litigation.
Ms. Hart is prosecuting claims in the Superior Court of California against Sears, Roebuck & Co. alleging that Sears falsely sold its Craftsman tools as being Made in USA. Immediately after the litigation was initiated Sears is alleged to have blacked out Made in USA on the tools and removed Made in USA from the Craftsman website. The motion to certify the claims as a class action is pending.
Some of her other notable settlements include: In re Brand Name Drug Litigation, $65 million settlement; and In re Warfarin Sodium Antitrust Litigation, $44.5 million settlement.
Ms. Hart co-authored Morrison v. National Australia Bank: "The Potential Impact on Public Pension Fund Fiduciaries" The NAPPA Report, Vol. 24, Number 3, August 2010. She has also recently written on the impact of other Supreme Court decisions including: "Donnelly Act Class Claimants Given New Lease on Life" New York Law Journal, May 17, 2010. Her other writings include "New York's Martin Act: Investor Sword or Fraudster Shield?" New York Law Journal, December 11, 2009, "Can Public Pension Funds Make SOX Meaningful?" The NAPPA Report, Vol. 22, Number 4, Nov. 2008, "Loss Causation in the Ninth Circuit," New York Law Journal, September 2, 2008 and "Antitrust Protections Expanded in New York" New York Law Journal, June 22, 1999. In addition, she is regularly called on cutting-edge issues in her field: see "Ruling Calls Into Question Investors' Reliance on U.S. Securities Law in Foreign Transactions" Council of Institutional Investors, Volume 15, No. 25; FOXNews program on Madoff on the day he pleaded guilty. Ms. Hart recently spoke on the Supreme Court's Twombly and Iqbal decisions on American Constituion Society Panels and an antitrust developments in an ABA Antitrust Panel questioning "Is the Robinson-Patman Act the right Rx for Pharmaceutical Industry" (12/8/09). She has appeared before the Council of Institutional Investors, The Federalist Society, the New York Bar Association, The Institute for Law and Economic Policy, the Public Funds Forum and the Practicing Law Institute.
Ms. Hart is a graduate of Vanderbilt University (B.A. 1982), the University of North Carolina (M.A. 1987), and the Fordham University School of Law (J.D. 1992), where she was a member of the Law Review and on the Dean’s List. Ms. Hart is admitted to practice in New York and Connecticut, and is a member of the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 2nd, 3rd, and 7th Circuits; and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
