Delaware shareholder litigation over Warburg Pincus’ 2011 acquisition of emergency services company Rural/Metro Corp. could have ended like most M&A challenges: with a disclosure-only settlement and fees for the lawyers. In fact, Rural/Metro and Faruqi & Faruqi reached just such a settlement three months after the Warburg deal closed, before the case ever got off the ground.
That’s when Randall Baron of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd and Joel Friedlander of Friedlander & Gorris took a gamble. They devoted intense effort and tens of thousands of dollars in order to successfully object to the settlement, a move that allowed them to take over as lead plaintiffs counsel and pursue extensive discovery. They ultimately uncovered what a judge found to be a web of conflicts, self-interest and deception involving financial adviser Royal Bank of Canada, Rural/Metro directors, and secondary financial adviser Moelis & Co.
