Mr. Ashinoff is the Chair of the Litigation Department, in the New York office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, and Co-Chair of the Firm’s National Class Action/Major Financial Litigation Practice. For 11 years through 2008, Mr. Ashinoff served as a member of Sonnenschein’s Policy & Planning (Management) Committee. Mr. Ashinoff’s practice over the past 30 years has focused on complex commercial crises and litigation challenges. He has wide-ranging experience counseling corporate boards, counsel and senior management, and has represented clients in trial and appellate courts, in arbitrations, and before regulatory agencies throughout the United States.
Client/Peer Testimonials
Mr. Ashinoff has been named each year as a leading trial lawyer nationally and in New York, based on peer and client evaluations, by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, the highly respected independent attorney rating organization.
2010: Peers highlight the litigation strength of partner and “great strategist, Reid Ashinoff.” His broad insurance expertise takes in class action, complex commercial and financial litigation work.
2009: Demonstrates “excellent judgment” and is a “great trial lawyer who takes charge of every dispute.” In his work focusing on class actions and financial insurance issues he is praised as “creative, determined, and possessing excellent judgment.”
2008: With his “sound wisdom and calm manner”, Reid Ashinoff proves an effective courtroom operator. Chair of the New York practice, he focuses on complex commercial crises and litigation challenges. . . . He has “a great courtroom presence, engaging the jury throughout.”
2007: Clients broadly recommend Reid Ashinoff, who has a national reputation as a seasoned litigator. “He is tenacious and results oriented - always with business goals in mind.” . . . He has a national reputation as a seasoned litigator who obtains good results in complex consumer litigation matters, especially class actions.
2006: “Clients sing the praises of Reid Ashinoff for combining brains and tenacity and being concise and articulate in presenting his arguments to a judge and jury.”
2005: The “dedicated” Reid Ashinoff won client respect for his “uncanny ability to wade through the morass, distill the real issues and understand where the vulnerabilities and strengths are.“
Mr. Ashinoff also has been selected as a 2007 and 2008 New York “Super Lawyer,” an honor bestowed on less than percent of the members of the New York Bar.
Prudential Representation
From 1995 through 2003, Mr. Ashinoff served as National Coordinating Counsel and Chief Trial Counsel for The Prudential Insurance Company of America in handling nationwide litigation and regulatory challenges to its life insurance and securities sales practices. Mr. Ashinoff counseled Prudential’s board of directors and senior management, structured and negotiated an acceptable, nationwide settlement for Prudential with dozens of plaintiffs’ class action attorneys and regulators in all 50 states, and successfully litigated approval of the class certification and settlement by the federal district court and the United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Ashinoff also directed and coordinated the work of attorneys in six Sonnenschein offices and at twenty other law firms throughout the United States. During the same period he successfully defended Prudential against unwanted class action certification attempts in several state courts, and against numerous challenges by discharged employees claiming “whistleblower” status.
In February of 2002, Mr. Ashinoff, serving as lead trial counsel, won a complete defense verdict after a two month jury trial in Miami federal district court, where numerous plaintiffs were seeking billions of dollars from Prudential for its allegedly fraudulent sales practices. The victory was selected by the National Law Journal as the Defense Win of the Month.
Recent Successes
Mr. Ashinoff successfully represented Medis Technologies, Ltd., and related defendants in a securities fraud class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The suit alleged misleading statements concerning sales of Medis’ power source products. Medis argued that under the Tellabs standard, which requires the court to consider competing non-culpable inferences as to a defendant’s intent, plaintiffs had not adequately pled scienter. The court agreed, and granted Medis’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint in its entirety, without leave to replead: “[c]onsidering all of the facts alleged, . . . and the overall implausibility of the suggested scheme . . . the amended complaint fails to raise a strong inference of scienter . . .” In 2009, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed the dismissal of this class action.
During 2006-2009, in a putative 150,000-person nationwide class action, Mr. Ashinoff successfully represented AEGON’s long-term care division, Life Investors Insurance Company of America, in a major victory in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. Mr. Ashinoff and his team won a summary judgment dismissal with prejudice of the plaintiffs' entire case, dismissing the plaintiffs' fraud, constructive fraud and bad faith claims, which alleged that Life Investors fraudulently and defectively under-priced its long-term care insurance policies during the 1990s (reported as Rakes v. Life Investors Ins. Co. of America, 2008 WL 2518717 (N.D.Iowa)). In 2009 the summary judgment dismissal was upheld unanimously by the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, 582 F.3d 886, where Mr. Ashinoff presented oral argument. The same plaintiffs' counsel had previously defeated summary judgment and had obtained class certification against several other insurers represented by different defense counsel.
In 2008 Mr. Ashinoff led a New York/Kansas City team which defeated three putative class actions filed by shareholders against Aquila, Inc., its officers and directors, seeking to enjoin the $1.8 billion merger of Aquila with Great Plains Energy Inc. and Black Hills Corp. The lawsuits challenged the consideration shareholders would receive and asserted that certain deal protection provisions of the agreement were in breach of the fiduciary duties of the Aquila board of directors to its shareholders. The merger was approved by shareholders in October. One case, filed in Wilmington, Delaware, was voluntarily dismissed following negotiation. The remaining cases were dismissed by the circuit court in Kansas City, Mo., in response to Sonnenschein's contested motion to dismiss the amended consolidated complaint.
In 2008, Mr. Ashinoff extricated longtime Sonnenschein client The Kansas City Southern Railway Company ("KCS") from national antitrust litigation against all the U.S. “Class I” railroads. KCS and the four other "Class I" railroads in the United States were named as defendants in approximately 30 nationwide class actions alleging that the railroads conspired to fix fuel surcharges in violation of U.S. and numerous state antitrust laws. The class actions were subsequently consolidated in an MDL in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Shortly after the first such class action was filed, the New Jersey Attorney General's office commenced a formal grand jury investigation based on the plaintiffs' allegations against the railroads. As a result of Sonnenschein’s efforts, KCS was excluded from the Consolidated Amended Complaint in the MDL, and the N.J. Attorney General's office decided not to pursue KCS in the continuing grand jury investigation.
In 2007 and 2008, Mr. Ashinoff successfully represented the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company ("MetLife") and The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company ("NM") in parallel litigations brought in the New York state and federal courts arising from the 2005 bankruptcy of Meridian Automotive Systems, Inc. ("Meridian"). The federal court case was brought by a bankruptcy appointed litigation trustee suing on behalf of Meridian's creditors on tort, preferential transfer, fraudulent transfer, and gross negligence theories for substantial prepayments made to certain institutional investors as part of a 2004 refinancing of Meridian's debt. The state court case was brought by a number of hedge funds seeking damages for alleged aiding and abetting fraud and breaches of fiduciary duty in connection with the 2004 refinancing. MetLife and NM were the lead defendants in the cases. The state court case was won through a successful motion to dismiss by MetLife and NM, following Mr. Ashinoff’s oral argument. The contested federal court case was ultimately settled on extremely favorable terms following state court dismissal.
Mr. Ashinoff continues to represent Prudential in significant litigation challenges. In 2005, he defeated an attempt by a group of plaintiffs’ counsel in New Mexico state court, to obtain multi-state class certification of a class of policyholders in 35 states, challenging Prudential’s collection of modal premiums allegedly without making full and complete disclosure of APR information associated with the modal premium charges. Previously, this same group of plaintiffs’ counsel had successfully obtained multi-state class certifications against numerous other insurance companies on similar claims in New Mexico state trial courts.
In connection with his ongoing representation of Fortune 200 company Genworth Financial, Inc. and its affiliated companies, Mr. Ashinoff obtained an unanimous decision, in November, 2005, from the New York Court of Appeals defeating a putative class action challenging the alleged collection of unearned premiums in connection with the first policy year’s insurance premium. The decision upheld the widespread industry practice of most life insurers doing business in New York State.
In December, 2005, Mr. Ashinoff won the reversal of a federal trial court judgment and obtained a complete victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on behalf of General Electric Capital Assurance Company ("GECA"), for whom Mr. Ashinoff has served as national coordinating litigation counsel. The Tenth Circuit reversed in its entirety both an adverse summary judgment breach of contract ruling, and a multi-million jury dollar trial award rendered after the Oklahoma federal district court's directed verdict on plaintiff's bad faith denial of benefits claim. The Tenth Circuit further directed that judgment be entered in GECA's favor on all causes of action, dismissing the complaint with prejudice. In its unanimous decision the appellate panel adopted the reasoning and accepted the arguments advanced in the briefs Sonnenschein filed on GECA's behalf (reported as Gillogly v. General Electric Capital Assurance Company, 430 F.3d 1284).
In 2004, Mr. Ashinoff successfully litigated and obtained a summary judgment decision awarding a multi-million dollar foreclosure judgment and dismissing lender liability counterclaims for clients Lenox Mortgage II Limited Partnership/Aspen Square Management, Inc. in state court in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.
Representative Experience
Some of Mr. Ashinoff’s other retentions as lead trial counsel include:
- representation of client TEVA Pharmaceuticals in a patent infringement action in Delaware federal district court against Pharmacia & Upjohn, LLC, a subsidiary of Pfizer, Inc.;
- representation of a major American soft drink manufacturer in response to product liability-type challenges related to alleged obesity caused by product consumption;
- the successful defense of the winning Australia II and its “winged keel” design against the New York Yacht Club’s legal challenge in the America’s Cup races won by Australia II;
- the coordination and litigation of a successful $1.2 billion hostile tender offer in federal district court in Madison, Wisc., for G. Heileman Brewing Company, Inc. on behalf of Australian entrepreneur Alan Bond;
- a successful jury trial defense verdict for G. Heileman Brewing in San Antonio, Texas, federal court against antitrust and breach of contract claims brought by a Texas distributor;
- successful representation of G. Heileman Brewing in a series of antitrust, alleged unfair trade practice and distributor litigation over several years;
- representation of the life insurance industry in New Jersey state court proceedings leading to the approved rehabilitation of Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company;
- coordination of a national defense team representing the brewing industry leading to a complete dismissal of one of the fetal alcohol syndrome product liability test cases in Seattle, Wash.;
- leadership of a 20-attorney team in connection with an internal corporate investigation and report on allegations of overvaluation of the nearly $5 billion PRISA and PRISA II real estate separate accounts;
- representation of foreign investors in obtaining a $50 million summary judgment in a contested foreclosure proceeding involving one of New York City’s premier residential buildings;
- the successful defense of the First Women’s Bank in New York against both a hostile tender offer and later proxy contest;
- representation of Bond Brewing Holdings Limited, a major Australian conglomerate, in U.S. insolvency proceedings involving over $600 million of debentures before a U.S. referee appointed by the High Court of Australia in connection with an Australian winding up action;
- a successful U.S. Second Circuit argument on behalf of the Chicago Board Options Exchange in a case that upheld the Exchange’s immunity from damage claims stemming from alleged improprieties in arbitration proceedings (Austern v. CBOE, 898 F.2d 882); and
- representation of the 50-state National Organization of Life and Health Guaranty Association (NOLHGA) in connection with the multinational, multibillion dollar insolvency of Canada’s Confederation Life Insurance.
Mr. Ashinoff has created and presented training programs on litigation strategy, tactics and management to client in-house attorneys throughout the United States, including Sonnenschein litigation clients McDonalds Corporation, Prudential and The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, whom Mr. Ashinoff has also represented.
In 2003, Mr. Ashinoff chaired The Class Action Litigation Summit presented by NorthStar Conferences, and has been a faculty member at the ALI/ABA Institute’s Conferences on Life and Health Insurance Litigation at various times, presenting on the trial of a high profile commercial case, negotiating regulatory settlements, and the interplay of complex class action litigation, individual actions and multiple regulatory proceedings. Mr. Ashinoff has also served as a member of the faculty at the Corporate Counsel Institute, and spoke on strategies and tactics for dealing with litigation Crisis Management.
Prior to joining Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP in 1990, Mr. Ashinoff was a founding partner of the successful New York law firm of Ashinoff Ross & Korff, which grew from 4 to 30 attorneys in seven years. He also has served as the Chief Legislative Assistant for United States Senator John A. Durkin from 1976 through 1978.