Anthony M. Christina

Anthony M. Christina

Senior Associate

Anthony M. Christina is a Senior Associate at Lowey Dannenberg’s Pennsylvania office. Mr. Christina is a member of the firm’s Healthcare, Commodities, Antitrust, and Data Breach and Privacy practice groups. Mr. Christina’s practice concentrates on prosecution of antitrust violations and pharmaceutical overcharges, commodities manipulation, and defense of class actions. During his tenure at the firm, Christina has litigated against some of the largest corporations in the world and achieved substantial victories at the trial and appellate court levels for California State Teachers’ Retirement System (“CalSTRS”), the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and health insurers, such as Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Cigna, and Humana.

Notable Cases:

Bond Rigging: Mr. Christina is part of the Lowey team that represents the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as court appointed co-lead counsel in In re GSE Bonds Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 19-cv-1704 (JSR) (S.D.N.Y.) (“GSE Bonds”), a class action against sixteen of the world’s largest banks alleging a conspiracy to fix the prices of debt securities issued by government sponsored entities. To date, Plaintiffs have reached settlements totaling more than $386 million, resulting in a substantial recovery for bond investors nationwide.

Benchmark Manipulation: Mr. Christina is part of the Lowey team in several class actions involving the manipulation of IBOR-denominated financial instruments, in which Lowey served as either sole or co-lead counsel. See, e.g., Laydon v. Mizuho Bank, Ltd., Case No. 12-cv-03419 (S.D.N.Y); Sullivan v. Barclays PLC, Case No. 13-cv-02811 (S.D.N.Y.).

Consumer Protection: Mr. Christina is part of the Lowey team that was appointed as co-lead counsel on behalf of a proposed class of borrowers of federal student loans owned or guaranteed by the federal government in litigation against the Department of Education, Secretary Elizabeth DeVos, and one of the Department’s student loan servicers arising from the Department’s and its servicer’s wide-spread failures in administrating federal loan programs. See In re FedLoad Student Loan Servicing Litigation, Case No. 18-md-2833 (E.D. Pa.).

Data Breach: Mr. Christina is part of Lowey’s data breach team representing both consumers and financial institutions. Mr. Christina is part of the team where Lowey is court appointed co-lead counsel in In re Rutter’s Inc. Data Sec. Breach Litig., Case No. 20-cv-00382 (M.D. Pa.), where he represents a class of consumers allegedly affected by malware installed on Rutter’s payment card system. Additionally, Mr. Christina represents a class of financial institutions allegedly impacted by the breach of convenience store and gas chain Wawa’s payment card system in In re Wawa Data Sec. Litig., Case No. 19-cv-06019 (E.D. Pa.), which is estimated to have compromised over 30 million records. Mr. Christina also represents consumers in data breach class actions in Hozza v. PrimoHoagies Franchising, Inc., Case No. 20-cv-04966 (D.N.J.); Barr v. Drizly, LLC, Case No. 20-cv-11492 (D. Mass.); In re USAA Data Security Litigation, Case No. 21-cv-05813 (S.D.N.Y.); and Rand v. The Travelers Indemnity Company, Case No. 21-cv-10744 (S.D.N.Y.).

Drugs Manufactured in Violation of FDA Standards: In Blue Cross Blue Shield Ass’n, et al. v. GlaxoSmithKline LLC, CaseNo. 13-cv-4663 (E.D. Pa.), Mr. Christina was part of a team that represented 39 health insurers (accounting for 60% of the U.S. market for non-governmental health insurance) in a novel RICO action seeking billions in damages against British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline for selling prescription drugs manufactured under conditions that amounted to egregious violations of federal standards. The case settled confidentially on the eve of trial.

“Pay-for-Delay” Antitrust Claims: Mr. Christina also regularly represents health insurers prosecuting “pay-for-delay” antitrust claims.  See Humana Inc. v. Celgene Corp., Case No. 19-cv-7532 (D. N.J.) (concerning Thalomid and Revlimid).

Class Action Defense: Mr. Christina played an integral role in successfully defending Aetna at both the District Court and Third Circuit – winning dismissal of an ERISA class action. See Minerley v. Aetna Inc., Case No. 13-cv-1377, 2019 WL 2635991 (D.N.J. June 27, 2019), aff’d, Case No. 19-2730, 2020 WL 734448 (3d Cir. Feb. 13, 2020).

Appellate Experience: Mr. Christina played an integral role in successfully defending Aetna in the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division, affirming the decision of the New Jersey School Employees’ Health Benefits Commission. See Roche v. Aetna Inc., et al., Docket No. A-76-21 (NJ Super. Ct. App. Div.).

Other Notable Achievements: Mr. Christina was selected as one of the attorneys to be included in the 2020 Top 100 Attorneys Magazine and was named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine for Pennsylvania in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Prior Experience: While in law school, Mr. Christina worked for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office, and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Drug Strike Force Unit. Mr. Christina also served as a judicial extern for The Honorable Kim R. Gibson of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Community Involvement: Mr. Christina is involved in his local community and previously served on the Ridley Township Zoning Hearing Board. Mr. Christina was also appointed by the Director of Selective Service System in the name of President Joseph Biden, on the recommendation Governor Tom Wolf, to serve on the Selective Service System Board for Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

Background: Mr. Christina received his J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law in 2016, where he served as a resident forum blogger for the Penn State Law Review and on the Journal of Law and International Affairs. Mr. Christina was active on the law school’s co-curricular trial team and served as President of the Trial Advocacy Board. Mr. Christina serves on the Board of Governors of the Justinian Society of Philadelphia and serves as Treasurer to the Justinian Foundation, which is a legal organization comprised of attorneys and judges of Italian ancestry. Mr. Christina is also Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Cardinal O’Hara High School Alumni Association.

Education:

B.A. The Pennsylvania State University (2013), Phi Beta Kappa

J.D. The Dickinson School of Law (2016)

Bar/Court Admissions

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

State of New Jersey

Washington, D.C.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit

U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska

U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma