Southern District Rules in Favor of RPL Client in Corporate Whistleblowing Case

In a decision of first impression, Judge J. Paul Oetken of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York  agreed with arguments advanced by RPL on behalf of client  Phillip Leshinsky that the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) applied retroactively to protect employees of subsidiaries of publicly traded companies against retaliation for whistleblowing. 

In deciding this “novel question,” Judge Oetken held that the Dodd-Frank applied retroactively to pre-2010 conduct, since it clarified Congress’ original intent in passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to protect employees, like Mr. Leshinsky, who worked for subsidiaries of large, complex companies against retaliation for reporting corporate malfeasance.  The scholarly and well reasoned opinion in Leshinsky v. Telvent GIT, S.A., et al, (accessible here) has been widely reported as “beefing up” federal whistleblower protection.  The judge’s ruling followed a two day evidentiary hearing conducted on behalf of Mr. Leshinsky by Alice Jump, a Partner of the Firm.