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 KENNETH A. JACOBSEN is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Mr. Jacobsen is a 1979 cum laude graduate of the Villanova University School of Law, where he was the Managing Editor of the Villanova Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. From 1979 to 1980, he served as the Law Clerk for a Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Following his clerkship, Mr. Jacobsen was an associate at a major Philadelphia law firm for three years, where he participated actively in the handling of complex commercial litigation matters, including claims arising out of the bankruptcy of O.P.M. Leasing Services, Inc. From 1984 to 1998, he was an associate, partner and then name partner in a national litigation firm with offices in Pennsylvania, Delaware, California and Florida concentrating in complex commercial and business litigation, particularly securities, antitrust, environmental, consumer and insurance cases.
In the consumer area, Mr. Jacobsen has represented the interests of policyowners of insurance companies in class actions for breach of fiduciary duty and corporate waste against company officials and others, and was successful in negotiating a $9.75 million settlement in In re Covenant Merger Litigation, No 94-12149 (Delaware County) and in enjoining the proposed conversion of Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company to a mutual holding company in Butler v. Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company, et al., January Term 1999, No. 780 (Phila. County). Mr. Jacobsen served as class counsel in In re Rohm & Haas Company Litigation, Master File 89-2724 (E.D. Pa.) ($5 million settlement of consumer class action arising out of contaminated anti-cholesterol drug). Mr. Jacobsen currently serves as one of the lead attorneys for a putative class of Pennsylvania consumers who purchased Ford Explorers equipped with allegedly defective Firestone/Bridgestone tires, and as counsel for a class of consumers who purchased the prescription drug Propulsid, which was recalled by the FDA following widespread complaints of adverse reactions by consumers.
Mr. Jacobsen also has been active in prosecuting suits in the antitrust field, including such cases as the Brand Name Prescription Drug Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 997 (N.D. Ill.) in which settlements totaling more than $700 million were obtained on behalf of small, independent retail pharmacies, and the Infant Formula Antitrust Litigation (N.D. Ill.), in which tens of millions of dollars in settlements were obtained for distributors of infant formula products. Mr. Jacobsen currently serves as plaintiffs’ counsel in the CD Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1361 (D. Ma.), and the United Parcel Service, Inc., Excess Value Insurance Coverage Litigation, MDL No. 1339 (S.D.N.Y.).
In the environmental field, Mr. Jacobsen has served as Plaintiffs’ Counsel in such cases as Cook v. Rockwell, et al., No. 90-K-181 (D. Colo.), a class action on behalf of Colorado citizens residing in the vicinity of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility, whose property values were diminished as a result of releases of radioactive plutonium and other environmental contaminants from the plant, and as Co-Lead Counsel in In re Burbank Environmental Litigation, Master File No. 96-5584 MRP (Anx) (C.D. Cal.), a class action on behalf of residents of the City of Burbank for medical monitoring and property damage resulting from off-site contamination of hazardous substances by Lockheed Martin Corporation. He also serves as class counsel in In re Hanford Nuclear Reservation Litigation, Master File No. CY-91-3015-AAM (E.D. Wash.).
In the area of securities litigation, Mr. Jacobsen has played a leadership role in the prosecution of the Petro-Lewis Securities Litigation, Civil Action No. 84-C-326 (D. Colo.), in which a settlement valued in excess of $137 million was recovered on behalf of shareholders and limited partners; in the Baldwin United SPDA Litigation, MDL No. 581 (S.D.N.Y.), in which a settlement of more than $170 million in cash and other benefits was obtained on behalf of purchasers of annuities; and in several other substantial securities class actions and derivative litigation, including In re Coleco Securities Litigation, Master File No. 83 Civ. 9199 (LBS) (S.D.N.Y.) (Derivative Counsel--global settlement of $16 million obtained on behalf of security holders and corporation); and In re Petro-Lewis Broker-Dealer Litigation, Consolidated Civil Action File No. 1:85-cv-172-RLV (N.D. Ga.) (Lead Counsel--global settlement of $17 million obtained from six broker-dealers on behalf of investors in oil and gas partnerships). Drawing on his extensive experience in bank litigation, Mr. Jacobsen has served as Lead Counsel in a massive securities fraud case involving First RepublicBank, a Texas bank holding company, in which settlements totaling more than $75 million were obtained on behalf of stock and bond purchasers, and was instrumental in negotiating multi-million dollar settlements in cases involving such other banks as Security Pacific, Goldome, MCorp, Dime and Trustcorp. Mr. Jacobsen also has been responsible for establishing appellate precedents in the business litigation and class action areas, most notably Hayes v. Gross, 982 F.2d 104 (3d Cir. 1992); Shapiro v. UJB Financial Corp., 964 F.2d 272 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 113 S. Ct. 365 (1992); Kirkpatrick v. J. C. Bradford & Co., 827 F.2d 718 (11th Cir. 1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 959 (1988); and Drain v. Covenant Life Insurance Co., 712 A.2d 273 (Pa. 1998).
Mr. Jacobsen has lectured at numerous seminars on topics involving business and class action litigation and other subjects, including as visiting lecturer on April 1 and 2, 2008 at the Temple University Beasley School of Law Advanced Civil Procedure class on class actions; the May 2001 Mealey’s “Emerging Drug Litigation Conference” in New Orleans; the February 1998 Villanova Law School Sports and Entertainment Law Journal Fifth Annual Symposium on “Franchise Relocation;” the May 1996 ALI-ABA Course Seminar in Washington, D.C. on the "Trial of a Securities Case;" the February 1993 Practicing Law Institute Program in New York on "False Advertising and Commercial Speech--Private Consumer Actions and Remedies;" the March 1992 North American Securities Administrators Association Program in Washington, D.C. on "A Small Investor Platform for 1992: An Agenda for Congress and the White House;" and the April 1991 American Bar Association, Committee on Partnerships and Unincorporated Business Organizations, Program in Williamsburg, Virginia on "Troubled Partnerships--Some Litigation Issues." Mr. Jacobsen’s perspective and analysis, “Tort Remedies and Statutes of Limitation Under the Federal Superfund Law”, appeared in the November 11, 1998 edition of the Toxics Law Reporter, Volume 13, No. 24, pages 763-65. On March 2, 2000, Mr. Jacobsen testified before the Democratic Policy Committee of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on the subject of insurance company demutualization. On October 23, 2000, Mr. Jacobsen participated in a discussion group with the Third Circuit Council Bench-Bar Relations Committee on practice in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
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