Akin Gump Scores Significant Win for Eastman Kodak in Class Action

(New York) – On May 26, a judge in New York Supreme Court granted in full Akin Gump client Eastman Kodak’s motion to dismiss a putative shareholder class action, with prejudice.

Plaintiff had sued Kodak and current and former members of its board of directors, alleging that the directors had breached their fiduciary duties by a 2020 proxy statement that plaintiff claimed was false and misleading. This was the plaintiff’s second complaint, having filed an almost-identical complaint in New Jersey Chancery Court in December 2020, which he had voluntarily dismissed after defendants filed a prior motion to dismiss.

Led by litigation partner Neal Marder, Akin Gump spearheaded a new round of motion-to-dismiss briefing, facilitated by a team of attorneys from other leading defense firms nationwide who represented the individual defendants.

After oral briefing, Judge J. Scott Odorisi dismissed plaintiff’s claims with prejudice, agreeing with Akin Gump that, under New Jersey law, plaintiff’s fiduciary duty claim was derivative, as well as because plaintiff had failed to make a pre-suit demand on Kodak, as required under New Jersey law. Further, the judge held that plaintiff had also failed to meet the heightened pleading standard triggered by the exculpatory provision in Kodak’s certificate of incorporation and that plaintiff’s declaratory judgment claim was duplicative of his breach of fiduciary duty claim.

The Akin Gump team representing Eastman Kodak included counsel Stephanie Lindemuth, Josh Rubin and Sina Safvati and associate Lillian Rand.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers and advisors in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

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