About

Brant Kuehn litigates complex commercial disputes, focusing on financial matters. Brant has litigated civil securities cases, restructurings, and distressed situations, contested mergers and acquisitions, securitizations, managed regulatory investigations and internal investigations, and has advised clients in a wide range of disputed situations. Brant has deep experience in favorably resolving disputes through mediation and other alternative dispute resolution tools. Brant’s ability to quickly understand his clients’ businesses allows him to provide advice, analysis, and advocacy that goes beyond a narrow knowledge of legal principles and considers real-world commercial practicalities. ILLUSTRATIVE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE · Represents holders of more than $200 million in Trust Preferred Securities (“TruPS”) against certain Defendants who allegedly facilitated and/or participated in wrongdoing that greatly diminished the value of Plaintiffs’ TruPS. In October 2022, the New York Appellate Division, First Department, largely affirmed two decisions in the Trial Court that had largely denied Defendants’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint. Alesco Preferred Funding VIII, Ltd., et al. v. ACP Re, Ltd., et al., 209 A.D.3d 558 (1st Dep’t 2022). The case is now in the discovery phase. · Represents a class of entities adversely affected by an alleged conspiracy by certain financial entities to inflate the interest rates for Variable Rate Demand Obligations (“VRDOs”), bonds issued by public entities to raise funds for infrastructure and public services. The City of Philadelphia, et al. v. Bank of America Corp., et al., Case No. 19-cv-1608 (JMF) (S.D.N.Y.) · Represented Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and certain of its affiliated entities (collectively, “Lehman”) in litigations asserting indemnification claims against hundreds of mortgage loan sellers relating to Lehman’s multi-billion-dollar settlements of claims litigation with Fannie me, Freddie Mac and trustees for hundreds of RMBS trusts. In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., et al., Case No. 08-13555 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.), Adversary Proceeding No. 16-01019 (SCC). Collaborating with the client, Brant led a settlement mediation campaign that, with other settlements, resulted in the resolution of approximately 200 adversary proceedings filed by Lehman. · Represents an ad hoc group of holders of Additional Tier 1 bonds (“AT1”) issued by Credit Suisse, which were written down when the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (“FINMA”) approved the acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS. · Represents investment management firm specializing in special situations and distressed opportunities, providing regular advice and analysis regarding potential investments, including bankruptcy, state law, and offshore law issues. · Represented senior executive in confidential cross-border employment dispute, including through mediation process. · Represented an ad hoc group of holders of senior bonds issued by the Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corporation (“COFINA”). The representation involved coordination and management of public relations, government relations, litigation under the newly-enacted Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act of 2016 (“PROMESA”), as well as critical inter-creditor disputes. · Represented senior officer of a major U.S. pharmaceutical company in securities litigation related to alleged failure to disclose off-label marketing practices. · Represented RMBS trustee in mortgage repurchase claims against the RMBS sponsor, a leading bulge bracket investment bank. The case involved significant dispute regarding allegedly ambiguous language not found in governing documents of other securitizations. Brant took extensive discovery of bankers involved in preparing governing documents, rating agency employees, and expert witnesses, to establish that the bank was responsible for the mortgage repurchase obligations. · Represented American International Group, Inc. (“AIG”) in coordinated campaign of litigation and confidential settlement efforts against sellers of RMBS certificates. The litigation ultimately involved complicated and high-profile disputes regarding the role of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the financial assistance provided to AIG following the financial crisis of 2008. · Represented RMBS creditors in ResCap bankruptcy, including developing and implementing novel settlement structure to compensate over 20 separate plaintiffs, including acting as lead negotiator in obtaining universal consent to structure and payments from all plaintiffs. · Represented AIG in regulatory investigations, civil litigation, and legislative inquiries leading up to and following the 2008 financial crisis, including investigations by the SEC, DOJ, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, as well as securities and derivative litigations. · Represented insurance company in public interest lawsuit brought against the United States Treasury and Federal Reserve challenging government support for insurance company on Establishment Clause grounds. · Represented AIG in litigation with charitable foundation of former CEO, which resulted in the First Department of the Appellate Division issuing important decision on state law governing claims made by holders of securities who have neither purchased nor sold securities. · Represented international insurance company in analysis and investigation of compliance programs in the United States, Bermuda, Hong Kong and of risk management department in New York.

Credentials

Related Legal Services

Other Commercial Litigation & Arbitration Attorneys in NY

More Attorneys at Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch LLP