June 5, 2008 2:49 PM

Grant & Eisenhofer Scores Again in Cablevision Backdating Settlement

Posted by Zach Lowe

In the second large backdating settlement in a month, Cablevision will pay $34 million to shareholders, ending a securities class action.

Cablevision's insurance policy will pay $10 million, and some 16 individual defendants will be responsible for the rest, according to an Associated Press account.

The paying defendants include several members of Cablevision's founding Dolan family, the company's former general counsel, and the estate of a former Cablevision exec who appears to have received options after his death, according to a copy of the settlement.

The case marks one of the few settlements in which individual defendants have agreed to the bulk of the payment, according to Grant & Eisenhofer's Stuart Grant. Grant represented the lead plaintiff, the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana, alongside colleague Megan McIntyre.

"I'm happy that a significant portion of today's settlement comes from individuals reaching into their pockets and feeling the pain," Grant said.

On the hook for the most money is former Cablevision general counsel Robert Lemle. Lemle has to pay back more than $2.5 million and relinquish various options worth nearly $4.6 million, the agreement states. Covington & Burling's Alan Vinegrad, Andrew Ruffino, and David Pinsky represented Lemle.

Also faring poorly is Harvey Beneson, Cablevision's former outside compensation consultant, who has to forfeit a $1.5 million severance package and pay back $2 million. Thomas Fleming of Olshan Grundman Frome Rosenzweig & Wolosky represented Beneson.

The case is just the latest in a lucrative string of settlements masterminded by Grant & Eisenhofer, including the $922 million UnitedHealth Group backdating settlement last year. That case was brought as a derivative suit, not a shareholder claim.

A Sullivan & Cromwell team led by Gandolfo DiBlasi represented Cablevision, and Alston & Bird's Nelson Boxer and Tiffany Buxton represented Cablevision's special litigation committee.

None of the individual defendants admitted any wrongdoing in the case as part of the settlement, a Cablevision spokesman told the AP.

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