Archives: Securities

Supremes Hold SLUSA Is Clear – 33 Act Class Claims Stay in State Court

By Cody Wigington on March 22, 2018 Posted in Securities

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, handed class action plaintiffs a victory by holding that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (SLUSA) allows them to pursue alleged violations of the Securities Act of 1933 (the 33 Act) in state court. Securing plaintiffs’ ability to pursue these claims in state … Continue Reading

2016-17 Securities Class Actions by the Numbers

By Shawn P. Hough on July 13, 2017 Posted in Securities

2016 was an unprecedented year in securities class actions filings. According to a report published by NERA Economic Consulting, a record 300 securities class action complaints were filed in 2016 in federal courts, a 32 percent increase from 2015. This number represents the highest pace of filings since the 2000 dot-com crash. The median time … Continue Reading

2015 Securities Class Actions by the Numbers

By Shawn P. Hough on February 23, 2016 Posted in Securities

2015 was a busy, fast-paced year for securities class action filings. According to a report published by NERA Economic Consulting, 234 federal securities class action complaints were filed in 2015. This is the highest number of filings since 2008 and marks an 8 percent increase over 2014. The 2015 median time between the end of … Continue Reading

District Court Follows Supreme Court’s Lead in Halliburton, Allows Class Action to Proceed with Narrowed Factual Scope

By Deborah Renner, Jessie M. Gabriel and David M. McMillan on July 31, 2015 Posted in Class Certification, Securities

Applying the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2398 (2014) (“Halliburton II”), which allowed companies facing securities fraud class actions to defeat certification by presenting evidence that their alleged false statements did not impact the company’s stock price, the district court on remand held that … Continue Reading

A Year Later: The Impact of Halliburton II Is Still Developing

By Justin Winquist on July 1, 2015 Posted in Class Certification, Securities

In June 2014, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund Inc. (“Halliburton II”), a putative class action in which Halliburton investors alleged that the company made misrepresentations designed to inflate its stock price, in violation of section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Securities and … Continue Reading

Court Takes Cue from Comcast v. Behrend, Certifies Class as to Liability but not Damages

By David M. McMillan on October 9, 2014 Posted in Class Certification, Securities

Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund v. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. In what appears to be an increasingly common practice since the Supreme Court decided Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 133 S.Ct. 1426 (2013), the Southern District of New York recently certified a class as to liability, but rejected certification as to damages. Fort Worth Employees’ … Continue Reading

Basic Is Dying a Slow Death: The Supreme Court Upholds the Fraud-on-the-Market Presumption in Halliburton but Allows Rebuttal

By BakerHostetler on June 26, 2014 Posted in Securities

Given the opportunity to overrule its landmark 1988 decision in Basic v. Levinson, in which it created the fraud-on-the-market presumption, the Supreme Court declined. The Court found in its decision this week in Halliburton that, while it was not ready to dismiss the presumption altogether, it would allow defendants to offer rebuttal evidence at the … Continue Reading

Genzyme First Circuit Decision

By David M. McMillan on June 13, 2014 Posted in Class Action Trends, Consumer Class Action, Securities

First Circuit Sides with Pharmaceutical Manufacturer in Dismissing Shareholder Class Action In a huge victory for Massachusetts-based biologics manufacturer Genzyme Corporation, the First Circuit Court of Appeals on June 5, 2014 affirmed the District Court’s dismissal of a multi-million dollar shareholder class action stemming from allegedly misleading statements regarding the approval prospects for one of … Continue Reading

Wall Street Banks, Stock Exchanges and High Frequency Trading Firms Hit With Securities Fraud Class Action

By David M. McMillan on May 12, 2014 Posted in Class Action Trends, Securities

Last month, the City of Providence, Rhode Island filed a first-of-its-kind class action against Wall Street banks, securities exchanges and brokerage firms over alleged violations of federal securities laws stemming from the defendants’ involvement in so-called “high-frequency trading” (HFT). HFT has been subject of heightened focus since numerous regulators launched investigations into the practice, which … Continue Reading

Supreme Court to Review Sixth Circuit’s Reinstatement of ERISA “Stock-Drop” Class Action

By Elliot Morrison and Patrick T. Lewis on December 30, 2013 Posted in Class Action Trends, ERISA, Rule 12 Motions to Dismiss, Securities

The Supreme Court recently agreed to resolve a circuit split on the pleading requirements for claims that ERISA fiduciaries imprudently invested employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) assets in the stock of the employer—so-called “stock-drop” cases. Under the “Moench presumption,” named after Moench v. Robertson, 62 F.3d 553 (3d Cir. 1995), courts presume that investments of … Continue Reading

Halliburton Redux: Will Fraud-on-the-Market Survive?

By Deborah Renner on November 25, 2013 Posted in Class Certification, Securities

Editors’ Note: This post is reprinted with permission from rennerclassactions.com. On November 15th, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in the Halliburton case… again. While the Court’s original Halliburton decision concerned whether loss causation needs to be shown at the class certification stage (it does not), the current case before the Court deals with the … Continue Reading

BlackBerry Hit With New Class Action Amid Claims The Company Misled Investors About The BlackBerry 10

By Darren Crook on October 7, 2013 Posted in Securities

BlackBerry and two of its highest-ranking executives were hit on Friday with a proposed class action lawsuit by a shareholder claiming the company misled investors in reports made regarding the BlackBerry 10 smartphone line. The suit, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges that, despite BlackBerry’s promise that the Blackberry 10 platform would … Continue Reading

Basic Is Anything But: Courts Continue to Wrangle with the Fraud-on-the-Market Presumption

By Jessie M. Gabriel on September 30, 2013 Posted in Class Action Trends, Predominance, Rule 23 Requirements, Securities

Co-authors: Mark Kornfeld and Deborah Renner Editors’ Note: This post has also been published as a BakerHostetler Client Alert. It has been 25 years since the Supreme Court announced the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance in Basic Inc. v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224 (1988). Yet many courts, including the Supreme Court itself, continue to struggle in … Continue Reading

A Big Week for the Securities Bar: Amgen and Gabelli

By Deborah Renner on March 13, 2013 Posted in Class Certification, Commonality, Injunctions, Practice Pointers, Predominance, Securities

Co-authored by: Marc D. Powers, Mark A. Kornfeld, and Jessie M Gabriel Editor’s Note: This Executive Alert was published by members of BakerHostetler’s Securities Litigation and Regulatory Enforcement Team and BakerHostetler’s Class Action Team. The Supreme Court last week issued two opinions of major importance to the securities bar. In Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement … Continue Reading

Materiality Can Wait, Says the Supreme Court in Amgen

By Paul Karlsgodt on February 27, 2013 Posted in Class Certification, Securities

The following post is reprinted with permission from Paul Karlsgodt’s blog, www.classactionblawg.com. Stay tuned over the coming days for more in-depth analysis of the Amgen decision and its potential implications for securities class actions and class actions more generally. The Supreme Court has issued its opinion in one of the most highly anticipated class action-related cases on … Continue Reading

U.S. Supreme Court To Review Fifth Circuit’s SLUSA Decision in Stanford Ponzi Scheme Case

By Shawn P. Hough on January 28, 2013 Posted in Class Action Trends, Securities

Co-author: Frank Oliva The Supreme Court recently granted certiorari to examine the “in connection with” requirement of the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act (“SLUSA”) in Chadbourne & Parke LLP v. Troice, No. 12-79. SLUSA generally precludes state law securities class actions when there is a misrepresentation or omission “in connection with the purchase or sale … Continue Reading

Delaware Supreme Court Allows Opt-Out Right in Securities Case Certified on Equitable Grounds

By Frank Oliva on January 15, 2013 Posted in Securities

In In Re Celera Corporation Shareholder Litigation, No. 212, 2012 (Del. Dec. 27, 2012), the Delaware Supreme Court reversed the lower Court of Chancery and ruled that a large holder of Celera Corporation (“Celera”) shares must permitted to opt out of a shareholder class action settlement relating to the company’s sale to Quest Diagnostics, Inc. … Continue Reading

Ninth Circuit: SLUSA Does Not Bar State Law Breach of Contract Claims

By Shawn P. Hough on January 15, 2013 Posted in Securities

The Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (“SLUSA”) is a federal law that bars state law securities class actions alleging misrepresentations or omissions related to the purchase or sale of certain covered securities. In an opinion filed on January 2, 2013, the Ninth Circuit held that SLUSA does not preclude certain state law securities … Continue Reading

Amgen Argument Points Up Split in Supreme Court on Class Certification Versus Merits Issues

By Deborah Renner on November 30, 2012 Posted in Class Action Trends, Securities

On November 5, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Amgen, Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, No. 1085, a securities class action, that concerned the ongoing question of what evidence is required at the class certification stage of a case as opposed to the merits phase of a case. (See our blog … Continue Reading

Is “Materiality” a Class Certification or Merits Issue?

By Patrick T. Lewis on July 12, 2012 Posted in Class Action Trends, Class Certification, Securities

Contributing Author: Taylor Jackson The Supreme Court agreed last month to hear an appeal from a Ninth Circuit case, Conn. Retirement Plans & Trust Funds v. Amgen, Inc., 660 F.3d 1170 (9th Cir. 2011), that affirmed an order certifying a securities fraud class based on the fraud-on-the-market theory. Plaintiffs alleged Amgen misrepresented the safety of … Continue Reading

Southern District of New York Applies Daubert and Denies Class Certification in Securities Case

By Jessie M. Gabriel on April 4, 2012 Posted in Class Action Trends, Class Certification, Predominance, Securities

Continuing the trend in the Second Circuit since the IPO decision for courts to “rigorously” determine whether class certification is appropriate, on March 27, 2012, Judge Miriam Cederbaum of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied plaintiff’s motion for class certification in the putative class action brought against Freddie … Continue Reading

Fraud-on-the-Market Allowed by Third Circuit to Certify Class in a Ruling That Differs Sharply From Fifth Circuit

By Michael Matthias on January 2, 2012 Posted in Rule 23 Requirements, Securities

In In re DVI, Inc. Securities Litigation, 639 F.3d 623 (3d Cir. 2011), the Third Circuit affirmed the district court’s holding that common class issues predominated over individual issues. The Third Circuit found that the district court had correctly invoked the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance to partially grant plaintiffs’ certification motion. Investors of DVI, a … Continue Reading