In re Public Storage Limited Partnership Litigation

This matter involved a series of mergers in which Public Storage, the largest publicly traded storage facilities REIT, acquired the partnership interests in multiple California limited partnerships that owned storage facilities throughout the United States. Plaintiffs alleged that 21 Defendants breached their fiduciary duties owed to limited partners in effecting the sale to Public Storage. The case ultimately went to trial and resulted in a complete victory for Compass Lexecon’s clients. Compass Lexecon expert Dr. Drew Roper testified at deposition and trial. Dr. Roper analyzed the fairness opinion associated with the mergers and rebutted Plaintiff’s expert who opined that the fairness opinion was biased and should not be presumed to provide an independent assessment of the merger considerations because of its reliance on information provided by interested parties. Dr. Roper explained that fairness opinions routinely rely on information provided by interested parties and provide multiple indications of value typically resulting in a range of value. The Honorable Jane L. Johnson agreed noting that the reliance on information provided by interested parties did not result in bias in the fairness opinion and quoted Dr. Roper’s testimony that “the question is does the merger consideration lie within the range, not does it exceed the highest number provided.” Compass Lexecon worked with Craig Varnen and Bruce Wessel of Irell & Manella LLP who successfully represented Defendants at trial.