Profiles in Justice

Profiles in Justice Spotlighting Successes in 2025 and A Look Ahead

We champion the causes of real people—workers, consumers, small business owners, investors, and whistleblowers—working to deliver corporate reforms, fair markets, and the return of fraudulently obtained taxpayer funds for the common good while striving to make victims whole.

Our firm has earned an international reputation by winning complex cases, many of which have resulted in landmark decisions on previously untried issues involving antitrust, securities, environmental toxic torts, mass torts, consumer rights, civil rights, and other far-reaching matters.

We take immense pride in what we have achieved for our clients this past year. Below are highlights of some of the important wins our firm secured in 2025, along with a look ahead toward the continued pursuit of justice.

Successes in Antitrust Litigation Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Antitrust Litigation (D. Nev.) In Le, et al. v. Zuffa, LLC, we represented current and former MMA fighters in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) unlawfully monopolized the market for MMA promotion by, among other things, locking fighters into exclusive contracts and acquiring its rival promoters, leading to suppressed compensation for fighters.

On February 6, 2025, U.S. District Judge Richard F. Boulware, II granted final approval of a $375 million settlement, calling it “life changing” money for the fighters. Due to this historic result, the American Antitrust Institute awarded Le v. Zuffa its 2025 Antitrust Enforcement Award for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice. Litigation in Johnson, et al. v. UFC, a related class action, is ongoing.

Jien, et al. v. Perdue Farms, Inc., et al. (D. Md.) Cohen Milstein serves as Co-Lead Counsel in this putative antitrust class action against the nation’s largest chicken and turkey producers, including Perdue Farms, Inc., and Tyson Foods, Inc., for conspiring to suppress the compensation of poultry plant workers. On June 5, 2025, the court granted final approval of settlements totaling $398.05 million against the poultry defendants. On October 14, 2025, the court granted preliminary approval of an injunctive relief settlement against the last remaining defendant, Agri Stats, a data aggregator for the agricultural industry that allegedly shared compensation data between the poultry defendants.

Successes in Consumer Protection In re MGM Resorts International Data Breach Litigation (D. Nev.) Cohen Milstein served as Co-Lead Class Counsel in this consumer protection class action against MGM Resorts International for allegedly failing to implement reasonable data security practices, thereby allowing the personal information of tens-of-millions of MGM Resorts hotel guests and customers to be stolen in two massive data breaches in July 2019 and September 2023. On June 18, 2025, the court granted final approval of a $45 million global settlement against MGM Resorts.

Brooks, et al. v. Thomson Reuters (N.D. Cal.) We represented a certified class of consumers who claimed that Thomson Reuters’s CLEAR platform surreptitiously collected vast quantities of Californians’ personal data, and sold it to third parties, including commercial and government entities, in violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law and California’s common law of privacy. On February 21, 2025, the court granted final approval of a $27.5 million settlement, along with injunctive relief.

Successes in Securities Litigation In re EQT Corporation Securities Litigation (W.D. Pa.) Cohen Milstein was Co-Lead Counsel in this securities class action, in which plaintiffs alleged that EQT, a major producer of natural gas that drills wells through hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), misrepresented the “substantial synergies” that were expected to arise from its $6.7 billion merger with rival natural gas producer Rice Energy. On November 4, 2025, the court granted final approval of a $167.5 million all-cash settlement, the largest securities class action recovery in the district.

Bayer Securities Litigation (N.D. Cal.) Cohen Milstein was the sole Lead Counsel in this certified securities fraud class action in which plaintiffs alleged that Bayer AG misrepresented the rigor and results of its due diligence on Monsanto’s litigation risks relating to its top-selling Roundup herbicide product before Bayer’s 2018 merger with the company. The litigation produced a landmark ruling holding that purchasers of sponsored ADRs traded over the counter have the same rights to pursue securities fraud claims as domestic investors. On October 30, 2025, the court granted final approval of a $38 million settlement.

2026 + Beyond Edenville and Sanford Dam Failure Litigation (Mich. Crt. of Claims) Cohen Milstein’s Ted Leopold and Leslie Mitchell Kroeger represent residents and businesses in property damage lawsuits against Michigan state agencies, including the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, alleging the State blatantly mismanaged and failed to properly maintain the Edenville and Sandford dams, which catastrophically failed on May 19, 2020.

United States ex rel. Long v. Janssen Biotech, Inc. (D. Mass.)

Ted Leopold, Poorad Razavi, and Diana Martin represent the plaintiffrelator in a whistleblower lawsuit against Janssen Biotech for alleged violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act. The plaintiff alleges the manufacturer of rheumatoid arthritis drugs Remicade and Simponi ARIA violated these federal laws by engaging in a scheme through which it provided physicians kickbacks in the form of free practice management and infusion business consulting services to induce the physicians to purchase and administer these drugs to patients, including Medicare beneficiaries, via infusions performed in their offices. Trial is set for October 2026.

Reed, et al. v U.S.A (E.D. Tenn.)

Leslie Mitchell Kroeger, Diana Martin, and Takisha Richardson represent plaintiffs in a wrongful death and property damage mass action against the United States Department of Interior and National Park Service for their negligent failure to provide warnings about The Chimney Tops 2 Fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The fire, which originated on November 23, 2016 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, burned within the park for several days before escaping into surrounding areas where it damaged or destroyed nearly 2,500 homes and buildings, and killed more than a dozen people.

Cape Fear River Contaminated Water Litigation (E.D.N.C.) As Co-Lead Class Counsel, Ted Leopold represents more than 770,000 North Carolina residents in a certified environmental toxic tort class action alleging that E.I. DuPont de Nemours Company and The Chemours Company knowingly discharged PFAS, such as GenX and other “forever chemicals,” into the Cape Fear River, one of North Carolina’s principal drinking water sources. A trial date is expected as this case continues to move through pre‑trial proceedings.

Miramar Water Litigation (Cir. Crt., Broward Cnty.)

Cohen Milstein’s Leslie Mitchell Kroeger, Diana Martin, and Rachael Flanagan represent residents in Miramar, Florida, in a property damage class action alleging that, due to the negligence of the City and the malpractice of its consultant, Kimley Horn, Inc., their water supply was not properly treated, causing irreversible and costly damage to the copper piping in their homes.

This case is ongoing.

DZ Reserve et al. v. Meta Platforms (N.D. Cal.) Ted Leopold and Leslie Mitchell Kroeger represent advertisers who allege that Meta Platforms’s “potential reach” metric for Facebook and Instagram is false and misleading because Meta systematically inflated the metric, causing advertisers to purchase more, and more expensive, advertisements that they otherwise would have. The court’s order granting class certification was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2024. On January 13, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court declined Meta’s petition for certiorari review, leaving the Ninth Circuit’s decision intact.

Social Media Addiction (Sup. Crt. Cal.) On November 14, 2025, Leslie Mitchell Kroeger and Geoff Graber filed a personal injury, wrongful death, and survival action against Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Snap (Snapchat), ByteDance (TikTok), and Google (YouTube) for knowingly and recklessly designing and marketing addictive and defective products that have contributed directly to the nation’s youth mental health crisis.

Generative AI Litigation Leslie Mitchell Kroeger and Poorad Razavi are investigating whether companies behind generative AI tools, such as OpenAI, failed to implement adequate safeguards to prevent harmful outputs that may contribute to self-harm or suicide among adolescents and other vulnerable users.

Ultra-Processed Foods Leslie Mitchell Kroeger and Takisha Richardson are investigating on behalf of families and children in personal injury, product liability, and deceptive marketing lawsuits against major food companies, including General Mills, Inc., Nestle USA, Inc., and others for knowingly engineering and marketing addictive and harmful products to children, contributing to serious long-term health complications like Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and obesity.

Meet the Complex Litigation & Environmental Toxic Tort Team

Ted Leopold

Leslie Mitchell Kroeger

Poorad Razavi

Diana Martin

Takisha Richardson

Rachael Flanagan

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