SIX FIRMS FIGHT TO LEAD CARNIVAL COVID-19 INVESTOR SUIT

Six law firms, including Labaton Sucharow, Levi & Korsinsky, and Pomerantz, are vying to lead a proposed investor class action in Florida federal court that alleges Carnival Corp. hid COVID-19 infections on its ships and spread the virus at ports around the world, causing its stock price to drop twice.

The six firms’ motions filed Monday seek to get their clients named lead plaintiff in the May 27 suit against the world’s largest cruise company and to consolidate a July 21 lawsuit with the first suit filed by institutional investor Service Lamp Corporation Profit Sharing Plan.

Two institutional investors who filed a joint motion to be named lead plaintiff on Monday appear to have the largest loss from Carnival securities, at a combined $5.7 million.

The motion by New England Carpenters Pension and Guaranteed Annuity Funds and the Massachusetts Laborers’ Pension and Annuity Funds asked that Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP and Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP be named lead counsel and Carella, Byrne, Cecchi, Olstein, Brody & Agnello, P.C. be named liaison counsel.

Another institutional investor, LiUNA Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada, came in second for highest loss at $1.15 million.

In their bid to be named lead plaintiffs, investors Roy and Joan McCarroll said they lost $660,166 and asked that their lawyers at Bernstein Liebhard LLP be named lead counsel and Mark Migdal and Hayden be named liaison counsel.

Investor Stephen Harris said he lost $389,561 and, like LiUNA, asked to represent a broader class of investors that includes options traders. He asked that his lawyers at Pomerantz LLP and Barrack, Rodos & Bacine serve as lead counsel, and those at Shepherd, Finkelman, Miller & Shah, LLP be liaison counsel.

Carnival is also facing proposed class actions about its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic from passengers.

New England Carpenters Pension and Guaranteed Annuity Funds and the Massachusetts Laborers’ Pension and Annuity Funds are represented by Hannah Ross, Avi Josefson and Michael D. Blatchley of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP; Naumon A. Amjed, Darren J. Check and Ryan T. Degnan of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP; and Zachary S. Bower of Carella, Byrne, Cecchi, Olstein, Brody & Agnello P.C.

LiUNA is represented by Christopher J. Keller, Eric J. Belfi, Francis P. McConville of Labaton Sucharow LLP; and Daniel Tropin and Jeff Ostrow of Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert.

Roy and Joan McCarroll are represented by Stanley D. Bernstein, Laurence J. Hasson and Matthew E. Guarnero of Bernstein Liebhard LLP; and Etan Mark and Daniel S. Maland of Mark Migdal & Hayden.

Carnival and its executives are represented by Daniel S. Sinnreich, Richard A. Rosen and Theodore V. Wells Jr. of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; and Erin K. Kolmansberger and Mark F. Raymond of Nelson Mullins Broad and Cassel.

The case is Service Lamp Corporation Profit Sharing Plan v. Carnival Corporation et al., case number 1:20-cv-22202, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.