Robert W. Cobbs

Current Cases

Stock Loan Antitrust Litigation

Iowa Public Employees Retirement System, et al. v. Bank of America Corp., et al. (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein is co-counsel in this groundbreaking putative class action, in which investors accuse Wall Street banks of engaging in a group boycott and conspiring to thwart the modernization of and preserve their dominance over the $1.7 trillion stock loan market. On September 4, 2024, the court granted final approval of a historic $580 million cash settlement and significant injunctive relief against defendants Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, UBS, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, and EquiLend. Litigation against Bank of America continues.

In re Interest Rate Swaps Antitrust Litigation

In re Interest Rate Swaps Antitrust Litigation (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein serves as Co-Lead Counsel and represents the Public School Teachers’ Pension and Retirement Fund of Chicago and other proposed buy-side investor class members in this ground breaking putative antitrust class action against numerous Wall Street investment banks. Plaintiffs allege that the defendants conspired to prevent class members from trading IRS on modern electronic trading platforms and from trading with each other, all to protect the banks’ trading profits from inflated bid/ask spreads. On July 11, 2024, in two separate orders, the court granted preliminary approval of $71 million in total cash settlements against Credit Suisse, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, and all remaining defendants.

Scharpf, et al. v. General Dynamics Corp., et al.

Scharpf, et al. v. General Dynamics Corp., et al. (E.D. Va.): Cohen Milstein represents naval architects and marine engineers in a putative antitrust wage suppression class action against the nation’s largest military shipbuilders and naval engineering consultancy firms. Plaintiffs allege that starting in at least 2000, Defendants engaged in a “no poach” conspiracy by adhering to an informal “gentlemen’s agreement” among themselves not to recruit each other’s naval engineers.

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Past Cases

In re Google LLC Street View Electronic Communications Litigation

In re Google LLC Street View Electronic Communications Litigation (N.D. Cal.): Cohen Milstein was co-lead counsel in a nationwide class action alleging that Google violated the Wiretap Act when its Street View vehicles secretly collected payload data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. Plaintiffs defeated a motion to dismiss raising novel Wiretap Act issues, and the ruling was affirmed on interlocutory appeal to the Ninth Circuit. The court approved a $13 million settlement in March 2020.

ExxonMobil -Villagers of Aceh Litigation

John Doe I v. ExxonMobil Corporation (D.D.C.): Cohen Milstein represented eleven villagers from Aceh, Indonesia, who alleged that they or their relatives endured horrific human rights abuses, including murder, torture, sexual violence, and kidnapping, at the hands of Indonesian soldiers contracted by ExxonMobil to guard its oil operations in the region. On May 15, 2023, a week before a jury trial was to start and after 22 years of litigation, the case settled. Although the case was litigated in U.S. federal court, Indonesian law applied to Plaintiffs’ claims and was applied by the court. The case set numerous legal precedents during its 20-year history, during which it saw two trips to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals (decided January 2007 and July 2011) and one to the Supreme Court (certiorari was denied in 2008). Each time, novel issues of foreign policy impact, extraterritorial jurisdiction, and choice of law were briefed and considered by the Court of Appeals. In August 2022, months before trial, the district court largely denied ExxonMobil’s motion for summary judgment, finding most of its arguments “entirely meritless.” Cohen Milstein and co-counsel were awarded the 2024 Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year Award for the successful resolution of this case.

• Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, Antitrust Law (2024, 2025)