Stephen J. Kastenberg

Litigation, Complex Commercial Litigation, Antitrust, Corporate and Government Investigations and White Collar Defense, Life Sciences/Technology, Securities Litigation, P3/Infrastructure

Stephen J. Kastenberg is a partner in the Litigation Department and partner-in-charge of the Complex Commercial Litigation Group. He is also a member of the Antitrust, Life Sciences/Technology, Securities Litigation, Corporate and Government Investigations and White Collar Defense, and P3/Infrastructure Groups. He focuses his practice on complex business litigation with an emphasis on antitrust and corporate governance litigation. Mr. Kastenberg also represents private and public companies in a wide variety of business disputes.

Representative Matters

• Mr. Kastenberg currently represents a Fortune 100 public company in In Re Sulfuric Acid Antitrust Litigation, a purported class action asserting antitrust claims against manufacturers and sellers of sulfuric acid.
• Mr. Kastenberg represents a major pharmaceutical company in two civil antitrust cases against asserting claims for monopolization and collusive dealing.
• In 2008, Mr. Kastenberg represented the Special Litigation Committee of the board of a public company in connection with its investigation of losses arising from the subprime mortgage crisis.
• Mr. Kastenberg currently represents a real estate investment fund in defending several putative class actions asserting RICO and related violations arising out of its investments in certain resort development projects.
  
• In 2005, Mr. Kastenberg successfully defended a privately held specialty insurance firm against charges of monopolization and obtained a settlement by which the opposing party paid amounts to settle a counterclaim.
• In 2005, Mr. Kastenberg represented an NYSE-listed public company in litigation related to its efforts to elect an alternate slate of candidates to the board of a second NYSE-listed public company in which his client was the largest minority shareholder, resulting in a settlement including the client's appointment to the board.
• In 2004-2005, Mr. Kastenberg obtained a trial defense verdict on behalf of DuPont on claims brought by a purchaser seeking over $425 million in damages purported to arise from alleged misrepresentations in connection with the divestiture of a business. In 2005, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the verdict (DCV Holdings v. ConAgra, Inc. and E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Inc., 2005 Del. Super. Lexis 88 (Aug. 5, 2004); aff’d 889 A.2d 954 (Del. 2005)).
• In 2003, Mr. Kastenberg successfully negotiated structural changes to the voting districts for the Franklin County, North Carolina, Board of Education after initiating a lawsuit on behalf of several county residents based on the one-person, one-vote guarantee of the U.S. Constitution.
• Mr. Kastenberg has defended the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) as lead trial counsel in a series of class actions in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Chancery Court, obtaining denials of multiple requests for preliminary injunction and obtaining dismissal or summary judgment of five federal court actions, a Pennsylvania state court action, and the favorable settlement of the Delaware action on the eve of trial (e.g., McGowan v. Frucher, 481 F. Supp. 2d 405 (E.D. Pa. 2007); PennMont Securities v. Frucher, 502 F. Supp. 2d 443 (E.D. Pa. 2007); PennMont Securities v. Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc., 534 F. Supp. 2d (E.D. Pa. 2008)). The actions challenged a series of strategic transactions entered into by PHLX, as well as various management and board decisions, asserting RICO, securities law, antitrust, and breach of fiduciary duty litigation.
• Additionally, in 2006, Mr. Kastenberg obtained a temporary restraining order on behalf of PHLX against a competing exchange temporarily barring its launch of an option premised on a stock index that allegedly misappropriated a PHLX Index; the matter thereafter settled.
• In 2002, Mr. Kastenberg represented the largest shareholder of three related public companies in litigation challenging the validity and composition of the three companies' boards. As a result of the settlement of that action, the defendant companies lifted a poison pill and permitted the client to pursue a tender offer for a control share of the companies. Mr. Kastenberg then defeated a request for a preliminary injunction action by an affiliate of Carl Icahn seeking to enjoin the tender offer in favor of a competing tender offer.
• From 1999 to 2006, Mr. Kastenberg represented the estate of late rap musician Tupac Shakur and its co-administrator in two related defamation lawsuits arising from the lyrics of two songs on a Shakur platinum album, obtaining summary judgment in both cases, and affirmance by the Third Circuit in the one matter proceeding through appeal.
• In 2000, Mr. Kastenberg successfully represented three Florida branches of the NAACP before a special three-judge panel and on direct appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in the defense of a lawsuit challenging the configuration of three Florida congressional and two Florida State Senate districts.
• Mr. Kastenberg has represented public clients in derivative action litigation brought by stockholders, as well as advised clients in response to derivative action demand letters and other shareholder demands.

Judicial Clerkships

Hon. Bailey Aldrich, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 1992-1993

Professional Activities

American Bar Association, Antitrust Section
New Jersey State Bar Association
Pennsylvania Bar Association
Philadelphia Bar Association

Recognition & Accomplishments

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, litigation, 2007-2009

Benchmark Litigation, "local litigation star," commercial litigation, 2009-2010

Publications

Contributing author, Model Jury Instructions in Civil Antitrust Cases, an American Bar Association publication, 2005 edition

Community Activities

Police Corruption Task Force, past appointee by Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell

Board Memberships

New Jersey Scholars Program, President

Philadelphia VIP, Executive Committee of the Board

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, Trustee

Harvard Law School (J.D. 1992, cum laude)
Managing Editor, Harvard Journal on Legislation

Princeton University (A.B. 1988, cum laude)

New Jersey 1993

Pennsylvania 1993

Supreme Court of New Jersey

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit