In an earlier post (here), I commented on the D & O industry’s probable response the the litigation wave arising from the subprime lending mess, including the likelihood of increased underwriting around subprime exposures. The heightened scrutiny that I had surmised apparently is now a reality. An August 30, 2007 Bloomberg.com article reports
Special Litigation Committee Terminates Options Backdating Derivative Action
On August 24, 2007, Rambus announced (here) that a Special Litigation Committee (SLC) of its board of directors had completed its review of “claims related to stock options practices that are asserted in derivative actions against a number of present and former directors and officers of the Company.”
Rambus had previously announced (
AIM’s Success and U.S. Capital Market Competitiveness
As I have noted in prior posts (most recently here), the several blue-ribbon panels that have recently examined the competitiveness of the U.S. financial markets have been particularly concerned with the apparent loss of company listings to overseas exchanges, particularly the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). These would-be reformers have cited AIM’s
Will the Subprime Meltdown Affect the D & O Marketplace?
As I have previously noted (most recently here), the subprime mortgage meltdown has produced a wave of lawsuits, including securities class action litigation (which I am tracking here). Even thought we are clearly only at the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a very long-developing story, the question is already being asked: what
Will the Subprime Meltdown Affect the D & O Marketplace?
As I have previously noted (most recently here), the subprime mortgage meltdown has produced a wave of lawsuits, including securities class action litigation (which I am tracking here). Even thought we are clearly only at the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a very long-developing story, the question is already being asked: what
The REALLY Troublesome Thing about the Subprime Mess
According to data form the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), there was $10 trillion in outstanding mortgage debt at the end of 2006. Of this, subprime loans accounted for $1.4 trillion. Of that amount, about $1.08 trillion was packaged into securities that, according to the OCC, are not being held by banks,
Delaware Chancery Court Reexamines, Allows Springloading Claim to Proceed
In an August 15, 2007 opinion (here), Delaware Chancery Court Chancellor William B. Chandler III reexamined his February 6, 2007 refusal to dismiss plaintiffs’ claim involving stock option springloading against directors and officers of Tyson Foods, Inc. In his earlier opinion (here), Chandler had held, in response to the defendants’
Seven Ways Counsel Can Help Clients with D&O Claims
During a panel discussion on the topic of “Advising a Public Company in Crisis” at the ABA Annual Meeting earlier this week, unexpected time constraints forced me to dramatically abbreviate my planned remarks. On the fly, I fashioned what turned into a list of seven pointers for outside counsel who are assisting their clients in
All Subprime, All the Time
At about this time last year, it sometimes seemed to me as if all I was writing about on this blog was the options backdating scandal, but that was because there were backdating-related issues emerging on virtually a daily basis. Now it is beginning to feel as if all I am writing about is the
Notes From Around the Web
The Kobi Watch: The recent news of the options backdating-related criminal conviction of Gregory Reyes, the former CEO of Brocade Communications, made me wonder what was happening with another former CEO caught up in the backdating brouhaha. When we last checked in on Kobi Alexander (prior post here) the fugitive former head of