Emily N. Christiansen

Current Cases

• Banco Espirito Santo (Portugal)

  The Firm is representing and funding a group of institutional investors who hold senior Banco Espirito Santo bonds in a recently filed action against the Bank of Portugal.  The action is an administrative challenge against the Bank of Portugal’s December 29, 2015 decision to re-transfer certain senior notes from Novo Banco S.A. back to the now defunct Banco Espirito Santo.  When Banco Espirito Santo collapsed in August of 2014, the Bank of Portugal created a new bank, Novo Banco, and transferred all assets and some bonds to Novo Banco.  On December 29, 2015, the Bank of Portugal decided to retransfer €2 billion worth of bonds from Novo Banco (which has assets) back to Banco Espirito Santo (which has no assets and is currently in bankruptcy proceedings).  The result is that bondholders lost at least 90% of the value of their bonds. This case is ongoing.

• Nissan Motors Corporation (Japan)

  The Firm represents over 100 institutional investors in securities litigation in Japan against Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. ("Nissan") and is funding the matter on their behalf. On June 22, 2020, the Firm and its Japanese local counsel filed suit alleging that misconduct by Nissan executives, combined with systemic failures in the Company's internal controls and corporate governance over a period of many years, caused the Company to violate Japanese securities and tort laws, resulting in substantial damages to investors.

  The case arises from the November 19, 2018 arrest of Nissan's former Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn on allegations of financial misconduct. A subsequent internal investigation commissioned by Nissan's board confirmed financial misconduct by Ghosn and other senior executives, as well as longstanding deficiencies in Nissan's internal checks and balances and corporate governance framework. Litigation is currently ongoing.

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• Petrobras (Petróleo Brasileiro S.A.) (Brazil)

  Kessler Topaz and its partners are representing and funding nearly 100 institutional investors in an arbitration against Petrobras before the Market Arbitration Chamber of Brazil.  The arbitration stems from the largest corruption scandal in Brazilian history in which an investigation (dubbed “Operation Car Wash”) revealed that former executives of Petrobras, the Brazilian state-run energy company, had falsely inflated the value of certain projects for their own profit and to pay bribes and kickbacks to politicians.  The arbitration is ongoing.

• Toshiba Corporation (Japan)

  The Firm represents a number of institutional investors in securities litigation in Japan against Toshiba Corporation ("Toshiba") and is funding the matter on their behalf. On April 3, 2017, the Firm and its Japanese local counsel filed suit alleging violations of Japanese securities and tort laws arising from Toshiba's disclosure of widespread accounting irregularities, including a net loss of ¥38 billion for FY 2014/2015 and a downward restatement of pre-tax profits totaling ¥225 billion (approximately $1.9 billion) for the period from 2008 onward. Toshiba's share price fell sharply on the news, declining from ¥512.4 on [date] to ¥337.25 by September 7, 2015. Litigation is ongoing. 

• Volkswagen AG (Germany)

  Kessler Topaz is currently representing and funding a group of over 500 institutional investors in securities litigation in Germany against Volkswagen and Porsche concerning Volkswagen’s “dieselgate” emissions scandal that caused substantial monetary damages to Volkswagen and Porsche shareholders.  The Firm, its partners, and German counsel filed three separate group complaints between March 2016 and May 2017, alleging a total of approximately €5 billion in damages.  Altogether the Firm’s group is the largest group of investors pursuing action against Volkswagen.  

  The proceedings in Germany are being adjudicated via the German model case proceeding system (or “KapMuG”) and the court appointed Deka Investments, one of the plaintiffs in the Firm’s group of over 500 investors, to serve as the model plaintiff.  The court will utilize the KapMuG model case proceedings to decide on common issues of law and fact that apply to all investors who filed suit against Volkswagen.  Litigation is ongoing. The parties continue to exchange briefing and oral hearings are ongoing. 

Landmark Results

• Fortis Bank

  In a case arising out of the subprime mortgage crisis, Kessler Topaz, on behalf of a number of large institutional investors, sued Fortis Bank, N.V. (Fortis) and its successor companies BNP Paribas and Ageas NL for fraud in connection with the company’s failed 2007 attempt to acquire Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV (ABN Amro). Our lawsuit alleged that Fortis misrepresented the value of its collateralized debt obligations, its exposure to subprime-related mortgage-backed securities, and the extent to which the decision to acquire ABN Amro jeopardized its solvency. After the acquisition failed, Fortis encountered financial difficulties and broke up in the fall of 2008. Its investors lost as much as 90% of the value of their investments. Our lawsuit survived rigorous jurisdictional challenges in the Netherlands Court of Appeals, and proceedings on the merits were pending when we were able to successfully negotiate a $1. billion multiparty settlement (including other plaintiff groups in the Netherlands and Belgium). The settlement was the largest settlement in Europe to date. Because of the Dutch procedural mechanism for collective settlements (known as the “WCAM”), all investors, including also those who had not participated in lawsuits against the company, were eligible to file claims for a portion of the settlement proceedings. However, Kessler Topaz’s clients and other investors who had directly pursued litigation against the company and driven the settlement negotiations received settlement payouts more than a year before other eligible Fortis investors.

• Olympus Corporation

  Obtained an 11 billion yen ($92 million) settlement in an action filed in Japan over an accounting scandal—one of the largest securities-fraud recoveries ever in that country, if not the largest.

  In 2011, former Olympus CEO and whistleblower Michael Woodford revealed that Olympus had hidden more than $1 billion in losses through a series of sham transactions, many of which involved “paying” exorbitant fees for financial advice. Olympus was forced to restate five years of earnings, and three of its executives pled guilty to the fraud. We represented defrauded shareholders in proceedings in Tokyo alleging that Olympus and its officers had violated their duties under Japanese Company Law. Following a two-day mediation, we reached a settlement agreement for 11 billion yen. 

• Royal Bank of Scotland

  Recovered £267 million on behalf of a group of institutional investors who participated in the Group Litigation Order (GLO) proceedings against the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The entire GLO settled for approximately £900 million. At the time it was resolved, the settlement of the GLO was the largest securities settlement in UK history.

  Working with UK counsel, we represented a group of institutional investors in a UK case alleging that RBS misled investors about its exposure to subprime-related assets, collateralized debt obligations, and the inflated value of its assets in connection with a £13 billion Rights Offering that was completed in June 2008. Just months later, in September 2008, RBS failed and had to be bailed out by the UK government. Investors who purchased shares in the Rights Offering lost nearly 90 percent of the value of that investment. Our clients, and investors who were part of other investors groups with which we worked closely, lost billions in connection with the Rights Offering purchases and subsequent RBS collapse. RBS’s write-downs and reported full-year net loss for 2008, represented the largest loss ever for a UK-based company and the largest for any commercial bank in the world. After the initial September 2008 bailout, the UK government bailed out RBS on two subsequent occasions, becoming an 82% shareholder of the company.

• Royal Dutch Shell

  On behalf of investors in European-based shares of Royal Dutch Shell, recovered more than $350 million in a class settlement of claims related to the company’s announced re-categorizations and/or restatement of certain oil and gas reserves.

  The settlement was the first of its kind under Dutch law and arguably began the trend of bringing securities class actions in numerous jurisdictions around the globe. 

• Theodoros Adamakopoulos and Others v. Republic of Cyprus, International Centre for the ICSID Case No. ARB/15/49

  Kessler Topaz is co-counsel in an investment treaty arbitration on behalf of nearly 1000 claimants against the Republic of Cyprus before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”).  

  Claimants, nationals of Greece and Luxembourg, were all depositors or bondholders of either Cyprus Popular Bank (also known as Marfin Popular Bank or Laiki Bank) or the Bank of Cyprus, and suffered substantial losses when their bonds/deposits were confiscated as part of Cyprus’ response (known as “Plan B”) to the Cypriot financial crisis. Claimants allege that Cyprus violated its obligations under two bilateral investment treaties (the Cyprus-Greece BIT and the Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union – Cyprus BIT). In response to the claims filed by the Claimants, Cyprus contested ICSID’s jurisdiction to hear the dispute.  On February 7, 2020, in a 2-1 majority opinion, the ICSID Tribunal determined that it has proper jurisdiction over the dispute. The decision is significant in that it involves claims by a number of claimants that is well in excess of most other mass ICSID arbitrations (including being larger than two out of the three cases pursued by bondholders against Argentina following Argentina’s debt crisis in the 2000s). The dispute will now proceed to the merits stage.

• KTMC Partners Named to the 2026 Lawdragon 500 Global Plaintiff Lawyers List

  April 28, 2026
• Kessler Topaz is Proud to Recognize and Honor Women's History Month by Profiling our Female Partners and Recognizing the Amazing Work They Do | Emily Christiansen, Partner

  March 16, 2022
• Kessler Topaz is Pleased to Announce that Emily N. Christiansen Has Been Named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation

  October 15, 2020
• Groundbreaking ICSID Arbitration Decision

  February 12, 2020
• 10 Years Removed from Cox & Thomas: A Survey of the Claims Filing Landscape for U.S. and Non-U.S. Securities Litigation Recoveries

  November 5, 2015
• 2014 Year in Review: Significant Legal Developments in Class Action and Shareholder Litigation Outside the United States

  May 1, 2015
• The Sixth Annual Evolving Fiduciary Obligations of Pension Plans

  April 1, 2015
• Recent Developments in Australian Class Actions

  September 1, 2014
• The Ninth Annual Rights and Responsibilities of International Investors Conference: A Recap

  April 1, 2014
• Ontario Courts Appear Willing to Assert Jurisdiction in Securities Class Actions Even When the Securities Were Not Purchased on a Canadian Exchange

  April 1, 2014