Alison R. Benedon

Paul, Weiss secured a favorable settlement on behalf of a pro bono client in two related and long-running cases against New York state and individual state corrections employees, one in the Eastern District of New York and one in the New York State Court of Claims. Our client is the mother of an adult son with severe mental illness who was incarcerated at the Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, N.Y. While incarcerated, he was left unmedicated and then placed in solitary confinement while in the throes of a severe psychiatric episode. Within a day of his release from custody, he tragically stabbed his mother and was then charged with attempted murder. Paul, Weiss filed a Section 1983 action against various corrections officers who were responsible for our client’s son’s care under a “state-created danger” theory of liability, as well as an action against New York state. The team vigorously litigated both actions over several years, defeating motions to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment. After two mediation sessions before Magistrate Judge Sanket Bulsara, including a second session that included defense attorneys handling both cases, Judge Bulsara offered a mediator’s proposal of $700,000. Both parties accepted the proposal, and a settlement has been finalized. The Paul, Weiss team included litigation associates Alison Benedon, Sabrina Hendershot and Charles Sucher. The matter was supervised by of counsel Walter Ricciardi and partner Aidan Synnott.

Sep 11

1 min

Paul, Weiss achieved a significant victory for Amazon.com, Inc. and several current and former executives, including Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos and CEO Andrew Jassy, when the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington granted Amazon’s second motion to dismiss, with prejudice, a putative securities class action over its relationship with third-party sellers and the pace of growth in Amazon’s fulfillment distribution network. The plaintiffs brought securities fraud claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5 based on two separate alleged frauds. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants made misrepresentations about Amazon’s alleged anticompetitive practices vis-à-vis third-party sellers, and about anticipated demand for items in Amazon’s store and fulfillment capacity expansion. After U.S. District Judge John Chun granted Amazon’s first motion to dismiss in December 2023 for failure to plead a strong inference of scienter, or knowledge of wrongdoing, the plaintiffs amended their complaint, attempting to add allegations about the defendants’ motive to deceive shareholders. The additional allegations largely concerned executive stock sales, incentive compensation awards and allegations copied from a pending FTC lawsuit against Amazon. In moving to dismiss the operative complaint, Amazon argued that the plaintiffs still failed to adequately plead scienter. The court agreed, holding that the stock sales were not suspicious in timing or quantity, long-term incentive compensation is routine, and the FTC allegations were not sufficiently paired with the alleged misstatements and thus did not show that the defendants knowingly made false statements. Litigation partner Audra Soloway argued the motion. In addition to Audra, the Paul, Weiss team included, among others, litigation partners Daniel Kramer and Alison Benedon and counsel Daniel Sinnreich.

Mar 17

1 min

An Arizona federal judge Tuesday rejected former Nikola CEO Trevor Milton's objections to certifying a class of shareholders accusing him and the electric vehicle startup of exaggerating the viability of its prospects, finding the investors have made reasonable progress toward contacting class members. U.S. District Judge Michael T. Liburdi said in an order signed on behalf of U.S. District Judge Steven P. Logan that the plaintiffs' notice forms and notice plan are compliant with standard procedures for class actions, despite Milton's claims that the timing of the notice plan would unfairly prejudice him. The court noted there are no standard timelines for class notice, and that there is no authority indicating the process must be completed before the close of discovery. "Here, the timing of plaintiffs' proposed notice plan does not reflect a lack of reasonable effort," Judge Liburdi wrote. "The process was delayed by settlement negotiations, and the subsequent breakdown of that settlement." Milton, who was convicted of securities fraud and pardoned by President Donald Trump earlier this year, said in a motion filed in September that the investors waited until August — more than seven months after the class was certified — to email a proposed class notice process to defense counsel. The communications revealed the investors did not have contact information for the individual class members to send them required notices, and they sought to issue a subpoena to a third party to discover this information, according to Milton's filings. Discovery in the suit expired June 20, he noted. Milton asked the court to decertify class members who could not be provided individual notice. Dispositive motions were due by Nov. 3, and Milton alleged he would be unfairly prejudiced if class members were allowed to see the motions and the court's rulings on them before making a decision on whether to opt into the class. In the order entered Tuesday, the court declined to decertify the class, saying the fact that notice will be provided while summary judgment briefing is ongoing does not make the notice plan deficient. The court also said it would defer ruling on the motions for summary judgment for 90 days to allow for an opt-out period. Representatives of the parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The shareholders first sued in September 2020, and the case was eventually consolidated with several other actions. The litigation came after Hindenburg Research LLC, an activist short-selling research firm, released a September 2020 report labeling Nikola Corp. "an intricate fraud based on dozens of lies." The electric-truck maker has slammed the Hindenburg report as "false and defamatory" and merely an attempt to manipulate the market. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission got involved, Milton resigned and Nikola's highly publicized investment deal with General Motors Co. was subsequently scaled back. Judge Logan initially threw out the litigation, finding the investors had not established that top Nikola executives schemed to artificially boost its stock price, but noted the company's public disclosures could have been more carefully worded to caution investors. The shareholders later filed a second consolidated amended complaint. In December 2021, the company agreed to pay $125 million to resolve the SEC's allegations that Milton falsely gave investors the impression it had reached certain product and technological milestones. After a month-long trial, a Manhattan federal jury found Milton guilty of one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud in October 2022. He announced in March 2025 that Trump issued him a "full and unconditional pardon." In September, the SEC said it was dismissing its civil enforcement action against Milton. The class is represented by Gary Gotto of Keller Rohrback LLP, Jeremy A. Lieberman and Michael J. Wernke of Pomerantz LLP, Jeffrey C. Block, Jacob A. Walker and Michael D. Gaines of Block & Leviton LLP, and Jonathan Gardner and James T. Christie of Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP. The Nikola defendants are represented by Brad S. Karp, Susanna M. Buergel, Gregory F. Laufer and Alison R. Benedon of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP. Milton is represented by Brent O. Hatch, Adam M. Pace and Tyler V. Snow of Hatch Law Group PC, and Troy A. Wallin and Chad A. Hester of Wallin Hester PLC. The lead case is Borteanu et al. v. Nikola Corp. et al., case number 2:20-cv-01797, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Nov 25

3 min

An Arizona federal judge Tuesday rejected former Nikola CEO Trevor Milton's objections to certifying a class of shareholders accusing him and the electric vehicle startup of exaggerating the viability of its prospects, finding the investors have made reasonable progress toward contacting class members. U.S. District Judge Michael T. Liburdi said in an order signed on behalf of U.S. District Judge Steven P. Logan that the plaintiffs' notice forms and notice plan are compliant with standard procedures for class actions, despite Milton's claims that the timing of the notice plan would unfairly prejudice him. The court noted there are no standard timelines for class notice, and that there is no authority indicating the process must be completed before the close of discovery. "Here, the timing of plaintiffs' proposed notice plan does not reflect a lack of reasonable effort," Judge Liburdi wrote. "The process was delayed by settlement negotiations, and the subsequent breakdown of that settlement." Milton, who was convicted of securities fraud and pardoned by President Donald Trump earlier this year, said in a motion filed in September that the investors waited until August — more than seven months after the class was certified — to email a proposed class notice process to defense counsel. The communications revealed the investors did not have contact information for the individual class members to send them required notices, and they sought to issue a subpoena to a third party to discover this information, according to Milton's filings. Discovery in the suit expired June 20, he noted. Milton asked the court to decertify class members who could not be provided individual notice. Dispositive motions were due by Nov. 3, and Milton alleged he would be unfairly prejudiced if class members were allowed to see the motions and the court's rulings on them before making a decision on whether to opt into the class. In the order entered Tuesday, the court declined to decertify the class, saying the fact that notice will be provided while summary judgment briefing is ongoing does not make the notice plan deficient. The court also said it would defer ruling on the motions for summary judgment for 90 days to allow for an opt-out period. Representatives of the parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The shareholders first sued in September 2020, and the case was eventually consolidated with several other actions. The litigation came after Hindenburg Research LLC, an activist short-selling research firm, released a September 2020 report labeling Nikola Corp. "an intricate fraud based on dozens of lies." The electric-truck maker has slammed the Hindenburg report as "false and defamatory" and merely an attempt to manipulate the market. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission got involved, Milton resigned and Nikola's highly publicized investment deal with General Motors Co. was subsequently scaled back. Judge Logan initially threw out the litigation, finding the investors had not established that top Nikola executives schemed to artificially boost its stock price, but noted the company's public disclosures could have been more carefully worded to caution investors. The shareholders later filed a second consolidated amended complaint. In December 2021, the company agreed to pay $125 million to resolve the SEC's allegations that Milton falsely gave investors the impression it had reached certain product and technological milestones. After a month-long trial, a Manhattan federal jury found Milton guilty of one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud in October 2022. He announced in March 2025 that Trump issued him a "full and unconditional pardon." In September, the SEC said it was dismissing its civil enforcement action against Milton. The class is represented by Gary Gotto of Keller Rohrback LLP, Jeremy A. Lieberman and Michael J. Wernke of Pomerantz LLP, Jeffrey C. Block, Jacob A. Walker and Michael D. Gaines of Block & Leviton LLP, and Jonathan Gardner and James T. Christie of Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP. The Nikola defendants are represented by Brad S. Karp, Susanna M. Buergel, Gregory F. Laufer and Alison R. Benedon of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP. Milton is represented by Brent O. Hatch, Adam M. Pace and Tyler V. Snow of Hatch Law Group PC, and Troy A. Wallin and Chad A. Hester of Wallin Hester PLC. The lead case is Borteanu et al. v. Nikola Corp. et al., case number 2:20-cv-01797, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Nov 25

3 min

Paul, Weiss achieved a significant victory for gold mining company Kirkland Lake Gold and its former CEO Anthony Makuch in a putative securities class action, when the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment in its entirety. The plaintiff brought securities fraud claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5 based on alleged misstatements about Kirkland’s M&A strategy. The plaintiff alleged two categories of misstatements: statements made by Makuch emphasizing Kirkland’s internal growth in response to analyst questions about M&A (the M&A statements); and statements made by Makuch about the cost and production targets Kirkland would apply in assessing a mine for potential acquisition (the minimum standards statement). The court previously found both falsity and scienter—knowledge or intent of wrongdoing—adequately pleaded at the motion to dismiss stage because the plaintiff alleged that Kirkland was engaged in “active acquisition negotiations” with another Canadian mining company—Detour Gold Corp.—at the time these statements were made. The defendants moved for summary judgment on falsity, scienter and loss causation grounds. U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken agreed with the defendants that, based on the factual record developed, no rational trier of fact could find for the plaintiff. On the M&A statements, Judge Oetken found that, contrary to the plaintiff’s allegation, “it is beyond genuine dispute that Kirkland was not actively considering the acquisition of Detour when Makuch made the statements.” Moreover, Judge Oetken held that, while organic growth may have been Kirkland’s number one priority, that did not mean M&A was not on the table—a conclusion reinforced by other statements made during the relevant time period by Kirkland about its openness to M&A. Judge Oetken also found that “[i]t turns reason on its head to argue simultaneously that Kirkland promised investors that (1) it would not acquire new mines and (2) it would only acquire mines with minimum production standards.” Judge Oetken also agreed with the defendants that the minimum standards statement was not misleading because, although Detour may not have met the standards at the time of the acquisition, “Kirkland’s management had clarified in comments to investors before and afterwards that such standards were measured after Kirkland had acquired mines,” and Detour ultimately did meet the standards. Judge Oetken also found that “Kirkland’s history of acquiring declining mines and turning them into low-cost, high-volume producers” supported this conclusion. Judge Oetken found that the plaintiff’s allegations of scienter similarly failed given the “lack of a genuine dispute as to the evidence that there were no on-going discussions between Detour and Kirkland when Makuch’s three statements were made, and that the minimum standards statements did not refer to a mine’s production capacity at the time of purchase.” Addressing the plaintiff’s argument that Makuch was at minimum “reckless” in making the minimum standards statement, Judge Oetken held that “though it would have been more accurate for Makuch to clarify that his [statement] about minimum production standards were intended as a future goal for acquired mines, such a one-time omission is hardly ‘highly unreasonable behavior’ or ‘an extreme departure from the standards of ordinary care.’” Given there was no genuine dispute of fact as to falsity and scienter, Judge Oetken noted that “the Court does not need to and thus declines to reach the element of loss causation.” The Paul, Weiss team included litigation partners Audra Soloway and Joshua Hill and partner-elect Alison Benedon.

Dec 13

3 min