Sherrie R. Savett

Biography

Sherrie R. Savett, Chair Emeritus of the Firm, Co-Chair of the Securities Litigation Department and Qui Tam/False Claims Act Department, and member of the Firm’s Management Committee, has practiced in the areas of securities litigation, class actions, and commercial litigation since 1975.

Ms. Savett serves or has served as lead or co-lead counsel or as a member of the executive committee in a large number of important securities and consumer class actions in federal and state courts across the country, including:

• In re Alcatel Alsthom Securities Litigation: The Firm, as co-lead counsel, obtained a class settlement for investors of $75 million cash. (MDL Docket No. 1263 (PNB) (E.D. Tex.));
• In re CIGNA Corp. Securities Litigation: The Firm, as co-lead counsel, obtained a settlement of $93 million for the benefit of the class. (Master File No. 2:02-cv-8088 (E.D. Pa.));
• In re Fleming Companies, Inc. Securities Litigation: The Firm, as lead counsel, obtained a class settlement of $94 million for the benefit of the class. (No. 5-03-MD-1530 (TJW) (E.D. Tex.));
• In re KLA Tencor Securities Litigation: The Firm, as a member of Plaintiffs’ Counsel’s Executive Committee, obtained a cash settlement of $65 million in an action on behalf of investors against KLA-Tencor and certain of its officers and directors. (No. 06-cv-04065 (N.D. Cal.));
• Medaphis/Deloitte & Touche (class settlement of $96.5 million) (No. 1:96-CV-2088-FMH (N.D. GA));
• In re Rite Aid Corp. Securities Litigation: The Firm, as co-lead counsel, obtained settlements totaling $334 million against Rite Aid’s outside accounting firm and certain of the company’s former officers. (No. 99-cv-1349) (E.D. Pa.));
• In re Sotheby’s Holding, Inc. Securities Litigation: The Firm, as lead counsel, obtained a $70 million settlement, of which $30 million was contributed, personally, by an individual defendant (No. 00-cv-1041 (DLC) (S.D.N.Y.));
• In re Waste Management, Inc. Securities Litigation: In 1999, the Firm, as co-lead counsel, obtained a class settlement for investors of $220 million cash, which included a settlement against Waste Management’s outside accountants. (No. 97-cv-7709 (N.D. Ill.)); and
• In re Xcel Inc. Securities, Derivative & “ERISA” Litigation: The Firm, as co-lead counsel in the securities actions, obtained a cash settlement of $80 million on behalf of investors against Xcel Energy and certain of its officers and directors. (No. 02-cv-2677 (DSD/FLN) (D. Minn.)).

Ms. Savett has helped establish several significant precedents.  Among them is the holding (the first ever in a federal appellate court) that municipalities are subject to the anti-fraud provisions of SEC Rule 10b-5 under § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and that municipalities that issue bonds are not acting as an arm of the state and therefore are not entitled to immunity from suit in the federal courts under the Eleventh Amendment.  Sonnenfeld v. City and County of Denver, 100 F.3d 744 (10th Cir. 1996).

In the U.S. Bioscience securities class action, a biotechnology case where critical discovery was needed from the federal Food and Drug Administration, the court ruled that the FDA may not automatically assert its administrative privilege to block a subpoena and may be subject to discovery depending on the facts of the case.  In re U.S. Bioscience Secur. Litig., 150 F.R.D. 80 (E.D. Pa. 1993).

In the CIGNA Corp. Securities Litigation, the Court denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment, holding that a plaintiff has a right to recover for losses on shares held at the time of a corrective disclosure and his gains on a stock should not offset his losses in determining legally recoverable damages.  In re CIGNA Corp. Securities Litigation, 459 F. Supp. 2d 338 (E.D. Pa. 2006).

Additionally, Ms. Savett has become increasingly well-known in the area of consumer litigation, achieving a groundbreaking $24 million settlement in 2008 in the Menu Foods case brought by pet owners against manufacturers of allegedly contaminated pet food. (In re Pet Food Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 1850 (D.N.J. 2007).

In the data breach area, she was co-lead counsel in In re TJX Retail Securities Breach Litigation, MDL Docket No. 1838 (D. Mass.), the first very large data breach case where hackers stole personal information from 45 million consumers. The settlement, which became the template for future data breach cases, consisted of providing identity theft insurance to those whose social security or driver’s license numbers were stolen, a cash fund for actual damages and time spent mitigating the situation, and injunctive relief.

Ms. Savett also litigated a case on behalf of the City of Philadelphia titled City of Philadelphia v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 17-cv-02203 (E.D. Pa.), involving alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act. The case was resolved in 2019 with a settlement providing $10 million to go to citizens of Philadelphia for down payment assistance, to local agencies to assist homeowners in foreclosure, and for greening and cleaning foreclosed properties in Philadelphia which blight neighborhoods.

In the past decade, she has also actively worked in the False Claims Act arena. She was part of the team that litigated over more than a decade and settled the Average Wholesale Price qui tam cases, which collectively settled for more than $1 billion.

Significant Achievements Within the Legal Community

Ms. Savett speaks and writes frequently on securities litigation, consumer class actions and False Claims Act litigation. She is a lecturer and panelist at the University of Pennsylvania Law School on the subjects of Securities Law and the False Claims Act /Qui Tam practice from the whistleblower’s perspective. She has also lectured at  the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and at the Stanford Law School on prosecuting shareholder class actions and on False Claims Act Litigation. She is frequently invited to present and serve as a panelist in American Bar Association, American Law Institute/American Bar Association and Practicing Law Institute (PLI) conferences on securities class action litigation and the use of class actions in consumer litigation. She has been a presenter and panelist at PLI’s Securities Litigation and Enforcement Institute annually from 1995 to 2010. She has also spoken at major institutional investor and insurance industry conferences, and DRI – the Voice of the Defense Bar. In February 2009, she was a member of a six-person panel who presented an analysis of the current state of securities litigation before more than 1,000 underwriters and insurance executives at the PLUS (Professional Liability Underwriting Society) Conference in New York City. She has presented at the Cyber-Risk Conference in 2009, as well as the PLUS Conference in Chicago on November 16, 2009 on the subject of litigation involving security breaches and theft of personal information.

Most recently, in April 2019, she spoke as a panelist at PLI’s Securities Litigation 2019: From Investigation to Trial program. Her panel was titled “Commencement of a Civil Action: Filing the Complaint, Preparing the Motion to Dismiss, Coordinating Multiple Securities Litigation Actions.” Ms. Savett also co-authored an article for the program that was published in PLI’s Corporate Law and Practice Court Handbook Series. The article is titled “After the Fall—A Plaintiff’s Perspective.”

In 2015 and 2016, she served as a panelist in American Law Institute programs held in New York City called “Securities and Shareholder Litigation: Cutting-Edge Developments, Planning and Strategy.” Ms. Savett also spoke at the 2013 ABA Litigation Section Annual Conference in Chicago on two panels. One program on securities litigation was entitled “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Ethical Issues in Class Action Settlements and Opt Outs.” The other program focused on consumer class actions in the real estate area and was entitled “The Foreclosure Crisis Puzzle: Navigating the Changing Landscape of Foreclosure.”

In May 2007, Ms. Savett spoke in Rome, Italy at the conference presented by the Litigation Committee of the Dispute Resolution Section of the International Bar Association and the Section of International Law of the American Bar Association on class certification. Ms. Savett participated in a mock hearing before a United States Court on whether to certify a worldwide class action that includes large numbers of European class members.

Ms. Savett has written numerous articles on securities and complex litigation issues in professional publications, including:

• “After the Fall – A Plaintiff’s Perspective,” PLI Corporate Law and Practice Course Handbook Series No. B-2475, pg. 73-105, April 2019
• “Plaintiffs’ Vision of Securities Litigation: Current Trends and Strategies,” 1762 PLL October 2009
• “Primary Liability of ‘Secondary’ Actors Under the PSLRA,” I Securities Litigation Report, (Glasser) November 2004
• “Securities Class Actions Since the 1995 Reform Act: A Plaintiffs Perspective,” 1442 PLI! Corp.13, September – October 2004
• “Securities Class Actions Since the 1995 Reform Act: A Plaintiffs Perspective,” SJ084 ALI-ABA 399, May 13-14, 2004
• “The ‘Indispensable Tool’ of Shareholder Suits,” Directors & Boards, Vol. 28, February 18, 2004
• “Plaintiffs Perspective on How to Obtain Class Certification in Federal Court in a Non-Federal Question Case,” 679 PLl, August 2002
• “Hurdles in Securities Class Actions: The Impact of Sarbanes-Oxley From a Plaintiffs Perspective,” 9 Securities Litigation and Regulation Reporter (Andrews), December 23, 2003
• “Securities Class Actions Since the 1995 Reform Act: A Plaintiffs Perspective,” SG091 ALI-ABA, May 2-3, 2002
• “Securities Class Actions Since the 1995 Reform Act: A Plaintiffs Perspective,” SF86 ALI-ABA 1023, May 10, 2001
• “Greetings From the Plaintiffs’ Class Action Bar: We’ll be Watching,” SE082 ALI-ABA739, May 11, 2000
• “Preventing Financial Fraud,” B0-00E3 PLJB0-00E3 April – May 1999
• “Shareholders Class Actions in the Post Reform Act Era,” SD79 ALI-ABA 893, April 30, 1999
• “What to Plead and How to Plead the Defendant’s State of Mind in a Federal Securities Class Action,” with Arthur Stock, PLI, ALI/ABA 7239, November 1998
• “The Merits Matter Most: Observations on a Changing Landscape Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,” 39 Arizona Law Review 525, 1997
• “Everything David Needs to Know to Battle Goliath,” ABA Tort & Insurance Practice Section, The Brief, Vol. 20, No.3, Spring 1991
• “The Derivative Action: An Important Shareholder Vehicle for Insuring Corporate Accountability in Jeopardy,” PLIH4-0528, September 1, 1987
• “Prosecution of Derivative Actions: A Plaintiffs Perspective,” PLIH4-5003, September 1, 1986

Professional Recognition

Ms. Savett is widely recognized as a leading litigator and a top female leader in the profession by local and national legal rating organizations.

In 2019, The Legal Intelligencer named Ms. Savett a “Distinguished Leader,” and in 2018 she was named to the Philadelphia Business Journal‘s 2018 Best of the Bar: Philadelphia’s Top Lawyers.

The Legal Intelligencer and Pennsylvania Law Weekly named her one of the “56 Women Leaders in the Profession” in 2004.

In 2003-2005, 2007-2013, and 2015-2016, Berger Montague was named to the National Law Journal’s “Hot List” of 12-20 law firms nationally “who specialize in plaintiffs’ side litigation and have excelled in their achievements.” The Firm is on the National Law Journal’s “Hall of Fame,” and Ms. Savett’s achievements were mentioned in many of these awards.

Ms. Savett was named a “Pennsylvania Top 50 Female Super Lawyer” and/or a “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer” from 2004 through 2022 by Thomson Reuters after an extensive nomination and polling process among Pennsylvania lawyers.

In 2006 and 2007, she was named one of the “500 Leading Litigators” and “500 Leading Plaintiffs’ Litigators” in the United States by Lawdragon. In 2008, Ms. Savett was named as one of the “500 Leading Lawyers in America.” Also in 2008, she was named one of 25 “Women of the Year” in Pennsylvania by The Legal Intelligencer and Pennsylvania Law Weekly, which stated on May 19, 2008 in the Women in the Profession in The Legal Intelligencer that she “has been a prominent figure nationally in securities class actions for years, and some of her recent cases have only raised her stature.” In June 2008, Ms. Savett was named by Lawdragon as one of the “100 Lawyers You Need to Know in Securities Litigation.”

Creating a Great Work Environment for Women Attorneys

Ms. Savett has aggressively sought to hire women, without regard to age or whether they are “right out of law school.” Several of the women who have children are able to continue working at the Firm because Ms. Savett has instituted a policy of flexible work time and fosters an atmosphere of cooperation, teamwork and mutual respect. As a result, the women attorneys stay on and have long and productive careers while still maintaining a balanced life. Ms. Savett has a personal understanding of the challenges and satisfactions that women experience in practicing law while raising a family. Ms. Savett has three children and five grandchildren. One of her daughters and her daughter-in-law are lawyers.

Community Leadership

Ms. Savett has taught those around her more than good lawyering. She places great emphasis in her own life on devotion to family, community service and involvement in charitable organizations. She teaches others by her example and her obvious interest in their efforts and achievements.

Ms. Savett is a well-known leader of the Philadelphia legal, business, cultural and Jewish community. She is an exemplary citizen who spends endless hours of her after-work time helping others in the community.

From 2011 – 2014, Ms. Savett served as President and Board Chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia (JFGP), a community of over 215,000 Jewish people. She is only the third woman to serve as the President, the top lay leader of the Federation, in the 117 years of its existence.

Ms. Savett also serves on the Board of the National Liberty Museum, The National Museum of American Jewish History, and the local and national boards of American Associates of Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She had previously served as Chairperson of the Southeastern Pennsylvania State of Israel Bonds Campaign and has served as a member of the National Cabinet of State of Israel Bonds. In 2005, Ms. Savett received The Spirit of Jerusalem Medallion, the State of Israel Bonds’ highest honor.

Mentoring and Furthering the Advancement of Women in the Community

Ms. Savett has used her positions of leadership in the community to identify and help promote women as volunteer leaders. Ms. Savett has selected a few worthy causes to which she tirelessly dedicates herself. According to leaders of The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Ms. Savett is viewed by many woman in the philanthropic world as a role model.

Education

Ms. Savett earned her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Personal

Ms. Savett has three married children, four grandsons, and two granddaughters. She enjoys tennis, biking, physical training, travel, and collecting art, especially glass and sculpture.