Attorneys

r. Middleton primarily focuses in the areas of corporate transaction and derivative litigation, as well as securities fraud litigation. He has significant trial experience, having worked on the trial team responsible for successfully prosecuting In re Clarent Corp. Securities Litigation, which resulted in a jury verdict in favor of plaintiffs and against the former CEO of Clarent Corp.

While at BLB&G, Mr. Middleton has prosecuted important merger transaction cases on behalf of shareholders, including the Caremark/CVS Merger Litigation which resulted in over $3 billion in additional consideration being offered to Caremark shareholders by CVS. Other significant cases include the Yahoo!, Inc. Shareholder Litigation; Longs Drug Stores Corp. Shareholders Litigation; and Atmel Corporation. Among other deal cases, Mr. Middleton is currently a member of the teams prosecuting In re Emulex Shareholder Litigation; Alcon Shareholder Litigation; and In re Ticketmaster Entertainment Shareholder Litigation.

In addition, Mr. Middleton has assisted in successfully prosecuting and settling important shareholder derivative cases for corporate waste. These include the Apollo Group, Inc. and the Activision, Inc. stock option backdating cases. Currently, Mr. Middleton is on the team prosecuting the In re Chesapeake Energy Corporation Derivative Litigation challenging the 2009 compensation bonus granted to the company’s CEO. Mr. Middleton is also currently assisting on the Ryland Group, Inc. Derivative Litigation which recently survived defendants’ demand futility demurrer.

Mr. Middleton also has significant experience prosecuting securities fraud class actions, including In re Williams Securities Litigation, which resulted in a $311 million cash settlement, which was the largest known settlement at the time without a company restating its financial statements. Other notable cases include In re Accredo Health, Inc. Securities Litigation ($33 million settlement); Atlas v. Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. ($22 million settlement) and In re Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Securities Litigation ($12 million settlement).

Mr. Middleton joined BLB&G in 2004 after working as an intellectual property litigation associate at the San Diego office of Gordon & Rees LLP. He is a 1993 graduate of UCLA and he received his law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1998.