Last year, investors filed numerous lawsuits against the investment banks and broker dealers who sold the investors auction rate securities. However, in a recent lawsuit, the targeted company was not an auction rate securities seller; rather, it was an auction rate securities buyer, which is alleged to have misrepresented to its own shareholders
Cornerstone Releases 2008 Securities Lawsuit Settlement Analysis
On March 11, 2009, Cornerstone Research released its report of 2008 securities lawsuit settlements entitled "Securities Class Action Settlements: 2008 Review and Analysis" (here). Cornerstone previously released its review of 2008 securities class action filings, which can be found here. Among other things, the newly released Cornerstone Report concludes that "the value
Financial Crisis: Bulletins from the Front
The current financial crisis involves a potent witches’ brew of bankruptcies, mortgage bailouts, failed banks, blame assignment, and liquidity issues. Because every one of these ingredients contributes in some important way to the total mix of current woe, this post briefly references each one of these issues and concludes with a video that manages to find
Web 2.0 for the Insurance Industry (and the Rest of the World)
Early in my career when I was doing legal work for London insurers, we communicated with our U.K. clients using telex, a technology that is to communications what smacking clothes on a rock is to cleaning fabric. It seemed a huge leap when we progressed to faxes, even though the pages rolled off of
Worrying About a “Going Concern”
General Motors’ March 4, 2009 filing on Form 10-K (here), among other things, reflected the doubts of the company’s auditor, Deloitte & Touche, of the company’s ability to continue as a "going concern."
The auditors, quoted in the company’s filing, said that "the corporation’s recurring losses from operations, stockholders’ deficit
Stanford Group Investors Sue SEC, Receiver
On March 4, 2008, twenty-one Stanford Financial Group investors filed an action in the Southern District of Texas against the SEC, the U.S. Marshal’s Service and the Stanford Group receiver claiming that the defendants violated the investors’ rights under the U.S. Constitution by freezing their Stanford Group accounts though the investors have been accused of
D&O Insurance: Knowledge, Structure and Coverage
On March 2, 2009, in an opinion with important implications for the availability of coverage when a company official has inculpatory knowledge at the time of policy formation, Judge Gerald Lynch of the Southern District of New York granted the motions for summary judgment of two of Refco’s excess D&O insurers, but denied the summary
Advisen Releases 2008 Securities Litigation Study
On February 23, 2009, Advisen released its Report of 2008 securities litigation entitled "Securities Litigation in 2008: Implications for the D&O Market in 2009 and Beyond" (here, $ required). The Advisen Report’s numerical securities litigation analysis is directionally consistent with prior reports of the 2008 lawsuits, although the Report also contributes its own
A Week’s Worth of News and Notes
Even though I was not even away a full week for the recent PLUS D&O Symposium, there was a flood of noteworthy developments while I was gone. Here is a roundup of last week’s news and notes.
Subprime-Related Derivative Lawsuit Largely Dismissed: In a detailed and painstaking February 24, 2009 opinion (here)
A Closer Look at Buffett’s Letter to Berkshire Shareholders
On February 28, 2009, Berkshire Hathaway released (here) the annual letter of its Chairman Warren Buffett, to the company’s shareholders. Like prior editions, this year’s letter contains homey and often humorous aphorisms and thought-provoking observations both about Berkshire and about the business economy as a whole. But, consistent with the fact that