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Christmas is coming early at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd after firm litigators struck a $1.21 billion deal to settle a securities fraud class action against Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which was represented by a team featuring Simpson Thacher & Bartlett partners Paul Curnin and Craig Waldman.

The company, now known as Bausch Health, announced the settlement in a press release on Monday.

"Resolving this action enables Bausch Health to close the door on one of the more meaningful and unpredictable liabilities associated with the legacy Valeant era," said Joseph C. Papa, chairman and CEO of Bausch Health. "The settlement of this case removes a cloud of uncertainty and ensures that current and future stakeholders will enjoy the benefits of the ongoing transformation of Bausch Health."

As part of the deal, the company and the other settling defendants will not admit liability and are denying all allegations of wrongdoing.

Plaintiffs lawyers sued Valeant and several of its senior executives in New Jersey federal court on behalf of investors who purchased the company's securities between February 28, 2014 and October 21, 2015.

They alleged that the company falsely assured shareholders that its "business strategy was fully compliant with applicable laws, that it had a strong commitment to ethical practices, that it properly trained its staff, that it had strong internal controls to detect improper conduct, and that it was achieving revenue, sales, and profitability targets by growing 'organically.'"

In reality, they alleged, Valeant had "formed a secret network of so-called specialty pharmacies to artificially inflate the sale of Valeant drugs using a variety of fraudulent practices," such as physically altering doctors' orders to require use of Valeant products, submitting false statements to regulators, and automatically refilling prescriptions for Valeant drugs even though patients had no need for refills.

"Simply stated, Valeant created and used its clandestine network of specialty pharmacies to boost sales and push through massive price increases for Valeant medications that were at risk of not being reimbursed through the retail pharmacy channel and that otherwise would have been substituted with cheaper generics," the plaintiffs alleged.

When the misconduct came to light, Valeant's stock price lost nearly 70% of its value, falling from a class period high of $262 to below $80 per share.

Robbins Geller was appointed lead class counsel in 2016. Firm lawyers working on the case include Darren Robbins, James Barz, Robert Henssler Jr. and Robert Robbins. A firm spokesman declined comment.

Further settlement details, including the award of legal fees, are not yet public. The deal is subject to approval by U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp.

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