When, as has been the case recently, there is a single predominant story, there also is a danger that other important developments may be overlooked. The subprime and credit crisis meltdown and related litigation has been so preoccupying that almost nothing else has broken through the noise.
However, a recent casual observation made me go back and take a closer look at latest securities class action lawsuit filings. I was surprised to observe that, at least by one measure, a majority of recent filings are unrelated to the credit crisis.
What initially caught my eye was the recent flurry of litigation filing activity involving life sciences companies. Just since September 23, 2008, four life sciences companies have been sued in securities class action lawsuits:
1. Spectranetics: On September 23, 2008, plaintiffs’ lawyers initiated a securities class action lawsuit in the District of Colorado against Spectranetics, a medical device manufacturer, and certain of its directors and officers. As reflected more fully here, shareholders filed the suit after the company’s stock price declined following publicity relating to the company’s alleged involvement in customs’ law violations.
2. Medicis Pharmaceuticals: On October 3, 2008, plaintiffs’ lawyers filed a securities class action lawsuit in the District of Arizona against Medicis Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company, and certain of its directors and officers. As described here, the lawsuit followed the company’s announcement that it would be restating its annual and quarterly financial statements for the period 2003 through 2007, due to the company’s sales return reserve calculation.
3. Biovail: On October 8, 2008, plaintiffs’ lawyers announced that they had filed a securities class action lawsuit against Biovail, a specialty pharmaceutical company, and certain of its directors and officers, following disclosures of issues involving one of the company’s developmental stage drugs. The plaintiffs’ lawyers’ October 8 press release can be found here.
4. Elan Corp.: On October 14, 2008, plaintiffs’ lawyers initiated a securities class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against Irish biopharmaceutical company Elan Corp. and certain of its directors and officers alleging that the company failed to disclose unfavorable results in Phase II clinical trials of a compount the company is developing to be used to treat patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. A copy of the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ October 14 press release can be found here.
Obviously, none of these lawsuits has anything directly to do with the turmoil in the financial markets that has been dominating the headlines. Nor are these cases the only securities lawsuits filed in recent weeks that are unrelated to the financial meltdown.
A review of the securities lawsuit filings during September 2008 reveals that a majority – 14 out of 24 – of the September filings were not directly related to the credit crisis. Moreover, the case filings spread across a wide variety of kinds of companies, including children’s apparel (Carter’s, about which refer here), gas exploration and development companies (Quest, refer here) and computer graphics, (NVDIA, refer here).
There was a flurry of activity in September involving companies in the wireless industry. The September filings included lawsuits against wireless broadband companies NextWave Wireless (refer here) and Novatel Wireless (refer here), and a wireless network management software company, Harris Stratex (refer here).
But whether or not there is any significance to this flurry of lawsuits involving companies in the wireless industry, or to the flurry of lawsuits noted above involving life sciences companies, the most noteworthy point is that these lawsuits are not related to the credit crisis, and that many of the other recent filings similarly are unrelated to the credit crisis.
There is no doubt that the most significant factor in the overall increase in securities litigation activity in recent months has been the subprime and credit crisis related litigation. But merely because this litigation has been the most important factor does not mean that it is the only factor. There has been a significant amount of securities litigation activity unrelated to the subprime meltdown and the credit crisis. Focusing exclusively on the credit crisis-related litigation could result in overlooking the other important securities lawsuit filing developments.
Although the plaintiffs’ lawyers have been quick to pursue claims from the credit crisis, they have not done so to the exclusion of all other activities. Indeed, the plaintiffs’ bar continues to pursue other kinds of claims, and so merely because a company has not been directly affected by the credit crisis does not by itself mean that the company is free from securities litigation exposure in the current environment.
A Note About Lawsuit Counts: There are two cases that complicate how the September 2008 filings are categorized. As I have previously noted (here and here), the lawsuit filings involving The Reserve Group and Constellation Energy do not directly arise out of the subprime meltdown or credit crisis. However, as explained more fully in my prior posts, these cases arguably represent a "second derivative" of the credit crisis.
At the same time, it should be noted that the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, employing a strict definition, did not categorize these two cases as subprime related. I have noted on this blog in the past the difficulties involved with "counting" these lawsuits as the subprime litigation wave has evolved. But, in any event, the statement above that the majority of September securities lawsuit filings were not related to the credit crisis, uses the Stanford website’s categorization, which I suspect also reflects a more common understanding.
A Final Note: The essential thrust of this blog post depends on the assumption that the distinction between cases that are and are not credit crisis-related is readily apparent. However, as the credit crisis becomes more generalized and if there is a significant downturn in the larger economy, there may be an eventual convergence of the two categories, as all companies become subject to the general downturn.
If the entire economy is suffering the effects of the unavailability of credit, the litigation that follows may no longer be susceptible to the categorization I have been trying to maintain. The possibility of this development is one more reason to maintain a broader perspective across all of the ongoing litigation activity.
Déjà vu All Over Again: Biovail, a Canadian corporation, is no stranger to U.S.-style securities class action litigation. As reflected here, the company was the target of a 2003 securities class action lawsuit that ultimately settled for $138 million. The settlement was just finalized on August 8, 2008, exactly three months before the filing of the most recent securities lawsuit against the company. (UPDATE: As a result of the reader comment, I relaize the prior sentence should say that the new lawsuit was exactly TWO months to the day from the finalization of the prior dismissal. I stand corrected!)
Similarly, Elan, a company domiciled in Ireland, has been the target of two previous securities class action lawsuits, refer here and here.