Richard W. Cohen, President

Phone: 914-733-7239 
Fax: 914-997-0035
E-mail: rcohen@lowey.com 
vCard

New York Office
White Plains Plaza
One North Broadway
White Plains, NY 10601-2310

Richard Cohen is the president of the firm.  Mr. Cohen represents health insurers in actions to recover amounts overpaid for prescription drugs and medical devices, and reimbursement for medical benefits provided.  Mr. Cohen won a landmark decision protecting the rights of health insurers to sue drug companies to recover overcharges for drugs prescribed to their insureds.  Desiano v. Warner-Lambert, 326 F.3d 339 (2d Cir. 2003).  Mr. Cohen was lead class counsel for health insurers in In re Cardizem CD Antitrust Litigation, 332 F.3d 896 (6th Cir. 2003) (settlement of $80 million), and In re Warfarin Sodium Antitrust Litigation, 391 F.3d 516 (3d Cir. 2004) (settlement of $44.5 million).  Mr. Cohen has represented health insurers as special counsel in numerous class actions, opt-out cases and settlements.  In 2009, Mr. Cohen negotiated the allocation of $288,000,000 to health insurers from a $350,000,000 “endpayer” class action settlement with McKesson Corporation.

Mr. Cohen  represented 35 health insurers in actions to recover overpayments for, and reimbursement of medical expenses paid on behalf of insureds injured by, the prescription drug Vioxx, resulting in settlements exceeding $80 million in 2009 and 2010.

Since 2006, Mr. Cohen has defended and won dismissal of multiple class action lawsuits for health insurance clients: Kesselman v. The Rawlings Company, LLC, 668 F. Supp. 2d 604 (S.D.N.Y. 2009); Elliot Plaza Pharmacy v. Aetna U.S. Healthcare, 2009 WL 702837 (N.D. Okla. 2009); Main Drug, Inc. v. Aetna U.S. Healthcare, 475 F.3d 1228 (11th Cir. 2007) (dismissing appeals from Main Drug, Inc. v. Aetna U.S. Healthcare, 455 F. Supp. 2d 1323 (M.D. Ala. 2006) and 455 F. Supp. 2d 1317 (M.D. Ala. 2005); and Medfusion Rx, LLC v. Humana Health Plan, Inc., Case No CV-08-PWG-0451-S (U.S.D.C., N.D. Ala.).  Mr. Cohen is currently defending multiple health insurers against class action claims in Meek-Horton v. Trover, et al., 11 Civ 6054 (S.D.N.Y.).

Mr. Cohen represented the National Coalition of Pharmaceutical Distributors as amicus curiae in a successful effort to prevent the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from implementing new prescription drug “pedigree” rules that discriminate against secondary wholesalers.  Dept. of Health and Human Services, U.S. FDA v. RxUSA Wholesale, Inc., 285 Fed. Appx. 889, 2008 WL 3699935 (2d. Cir. 2008).

Mr. Cohen’s practice is not limited to healthcare issues.  Mr. Cohen frequently represents institutional investors in stockholder voting rights and corporate governance cases, including Western Investment Total Return Fund Ltd. v. Bremer (Nuveen), 762 F. Supp. 2d 339 (D. Mass. 2011); Gabelli Global Multimedia v. Western Investment LLC, 700 F. Supp. 2d 748 (D. Md. 2010); Delcath Systems, Inc. v. Ladd, 466 F.3d 257 (2d. Cir. 2006); Salomon Brothers Mun. Partners Fund, Inc. v. Thornton, 410 F. Supp. 2d 330 (S.D.N.Y. 2006); meVC Draper Fisher Jurvetson Fund I, Inc. v. Millennium Partners, 260 F. Supp. 2d 616 (S.D.N.Y. 2003); and Millenco L.P. v. meVC Draper Fisher Jurvetson Fund I, Inc., 824 A.2d 11 (Del. Ch. 2002).  In 2009, Mr. Cohen tried, won, and collected for investors, a multi-million dollar arbitration award against a hedge fund (Pierot v. Colonial Investment Management, AAA No. 13 148 Y 02207 08).

Mr. Cohen has been a speaker at numerous continuing legal education conferences, including Northwestern University School of Law’s “Sixth Annual Antitrust Conference,” (2000); The American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation’s “Current Issues in Pharmaceutical Litigation Policy” Conference (2008); Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s Annual Lawyers’ Conference (2010); The American Conference Institute’s Advanced Forum on Managed Care Disputes and Litigation (2011).

For more than 20 years, Mr. Cohen has held an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating a lawyer can obtain, as established by confidential opinions from members of the Bar.  Mr. Cohen graduated from Georgetown University (A.B. 1977) and the New York University School of Law (J.D. 1980).  Mr. Cohen is admitted to practice in New York and Pennsylvania, and is a member of the bars of the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 11th Circuits; and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Eastern District of Michigan and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.