Andy Bednark litigates high-stakes securities, mergers-and-acquisitions, corporate-governance, and breach-of-contract cases in state and federal courts and arbitration forums throughout the country, including extensive experience in FINRA arbitrations. Domestic and international securities issuers, underwriters, broker-dealers, and private-equity firms and their portfolio companies regularly turn to Andy to handle their most complex disputes both inside and outside of litigation, from the 2008 mortgage crisis through the recent crypto-asset turmoil. Andy has been recognized on Benchmark Litigation’s “40 & Under Hot List” and as a securities litigation “Rising Star.”
- Won dismissal of a putative securities class action against a financial institution arising from alleged misrepresentations about its credit losses and subprime-asset exposure in connection with new preferred-stock issuances.
- Won summary judgment for a telecommunications company directing specific performance of a contract to purchase a Philadelphia-area television station.
- Won dismissal of a putative securities-fraud class action against a broker-dealer arising from its marketing and sales of auction-rate securities.
- Secured dismissal with prejudice of numerous cases alleging that an acquirer of a distressed mortgage company was liable as the successor to tens of billions of dollars in the mortgage company’s alleged liabilities relating to mortgage-backed securities.
- Won dismissal of breach-of-contract claims against the acquirer of a logistics company in a post-closing dispute over the sellers’ financial statements.
- Won summary judgment for a broker-dealer that an investor had waived its right to arbitrate claims arising from its purchase of auction-rate securities by pursuing those claims in federal court.
- Obtained dismissal of RICO claims against a mortgage servicer arising from an alleged conspiracy with loan originators and underwriters to defraud investors in mortgage-backed securities.
- Won dismissal on anti-SLAPP grounds of claims that a consumer bank’s litigation practices in loan-collection proceedings violated debt-collection laws.
- Won dismissal of a US$4 billion putative class action against a securities analyst alleging that it conspired with others to manipulate a covered company’s stock price to allow hedge funds to reap billions in short-selling profits.
- Secured dismissal of a financial institution and its CEO in securities litigation arising from alleged misrepresentations concerning the bank’s acquisition of a distressed mortgage company.
- Won dismissal for a consumer bank of claims arising from its safe-deposit-box business.
- Defending a private-equity firm against claims that it breached its fiduciary duty as alleged controlling shareholder in connection with the sale of a silicones company.
- Defending medical-aesthetics company in putative federal securities class action and related derivative litigation alleging that it failed to disclose that trade secrets behind its primary product had been misappropriated from a competitor.
- Defending operator of China’s leading platform for real-estate transactions and services against federal securities claims that it misrepresented transaction values, revenue, and store and agent counts.
- Defending crypto-token issuer against federal securities claims that its coin offering constituted an illegal sale of unregistered securities.
- Defended a financial institution in multi-forum class actions and preliminary-injunction proceedings in Delaware Chancery Court seeking to enjoin its acquisition of a distressed mortgage company as a breach of the mortgage company directors’ fiduciary duties.
- Represented the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the members of which include every major U.S. securities firm and financial institution, as an amicus in what The New York Times called the most closely watched business case before the United States Supreme Court in years. The Court held that entities traditionally viewed as “secondary actors” in the securities markets—such as banks, underwriters, and brokers—could not be liable for an issuer's fraud when shareholders had not relied on their statements or actions. Stoneridge Inv. Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., 128 S. Ct. 761 (2008)
- Defended a leading stock exchange’s independent directors in a putative class action and preliminary-injunction proceeding in New York state court challenging the exchange’s historic merger with a competing electronic exchange as a breach of the directors’ fiduciary duties.
Admissions
Bar Admissions
- New York
Court Admissions
- US District Court, Eastern and Southern Districts of New York
- US Court of Appeals, First and Second Circuits
- US Supreme Court
Education
- University of Minnesota, J.D. magna cum laude, 2002; managing editor, Minnesota Law Review
- New York University, B.S. summa cum laude, 1999
Professional Activities
Board Member
- Board of Advisors, University of Minnesota Law School
Author
- “Some Classes Are More Equal Than Others: The Expansion of Anti-Discrimination Protection in the European Union,” 2 U.C.D. L. Rev. 1 (2002)
- “Preferential Treatment: The Varying Constitutionality of Private Scholarship Preferences at Public Universities,” 85 Minn. L. Rev. 1391 (2001)
Related Practices
Related Industries