Over the course of the past few weeks, very substantial settlements were announced in two separate securities class action lawsuits, one involving the giant Internet company Alibaba and one involving the auto manufacturing company Fiat Chrysler. Given the size of these settlements, they are interesting in and of themselves. However, the settlements are interesting, separately and together, for several other reasons, among other things for the fact that both involve companies organized and based outside the U.S. but with securities trading on a U.S. exchange. Each of these settlements is described below, and a discussion of the settlements’ significance follows.
Continue Reading A Closer Look at Two Recent Securities Lawsuit Mega Settlements
A Burst Dam in Brazil, a U.S. Securites Lawsuit, and a Heap of Current Litigation Trends
On December 7, 2015, in a complaint that reflects a number of current U.S. securities class action lawsuit filing trends, a plaintiff securityholder filed a securities class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York under the U.S. securities laws against the Brazilian mining giant Vale, S.A. and two of its officers. The complaint relates to the massive dam failure that occurred on November 5, 2015 near Mariana, in the Minas Gerais state, in Brazil. The failed dam is the property of Samarco Mineração, S.A., a joint venture between Vale and BHP Billiton. The securities suit plaintiff claims that the Vale defendants made misleading statements about the company’s safety and environmental standards and risk management, as well as about the spill itself.
Continue Reading A Burst Dam in Brazil, a U.S. Securites Lawsuit, and a Heap of Current Litigation Trends
Two Legal Surveys: Foreign Disputes in U.S. Courts and Fee-Shifting Bylaws
An ever-present anxiety for globally-active non-U.S. companies is the possibility that they might find themselves having to deal with litigation in U.S. courts. This concern is warranted because certain attributes of the U.S. legal system – including the absence of loser pays attorneys’ fee model and the availability of discovery and jury trials – provide
Tesco Accounting Scandal Draws Securities Class Action Lawsuit
When Tesco PLC announced on September 22, 2014 that its previously forecast first-half profit had been overstated by £250 ($408.8 million), the news of the accounting irregularities was “serious,” as Tesco plc’s CEO of less than a month’s standing at the time put it. The company also announced that the overstatement, first flagged when an
Foreign-Domiciled Individuals and the FCPA’s Reach
Among the more controversial questions about the U.S.’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been the extent of its reach in enforcement actions against foreign-domiciled individuals. Two recent decisions from the Southern District of New York reached differing conclusions about the statute’s reach. One case rejected the individual’s motion to dismiss the FCPA enforcement action, while