The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank presents significant obstacles for claimants who want to pursue securities claims against non-U.S. companies in the U.S courts, as the short sellers who tried to sue Porsche in the Southern District of New York found out—their prior federal court securities suit was dismissed on
Failed Bank Directors Not Liable for Ordinary Negligence Under Florida Law
A federal court has ruled in the only FDIC failed bank lawsuit pending in Florida that directors cannot be liable for ordinary negligence under Florida law. On August 8, 2012, Middle District of Florida Judge Gregory Presnell granted the motion of the director defendants to dismiss the FDIC’s claim against them for ordinary negligence. A
Securities Suit Based on Environmental Disclosures Settled
According to papers filed in the Southern District of New York on August 3, 2012, the parties to the Tronox securities litigation have agreed to settle the case for a total of $37 million. As I noted at the time that this suit was first filed back in July 2009 (here), the case
Fidelity Insurance and the Timing of the Employer’s Responsibility for an Employee Defalcation
On August 1, 2011, in a 2-1 decision characterized by a testy but interesting exchange between the majority and the dissent, the Sixth Circuit held that a fidelity policy provided coverage for nearly one million dollars a bank employee stole from client brokerage accounts. For those who (like me) are not regularly involved in fidelity
Lawsuits in the Social Networking World Recall the Days of the Dot Com Crash
In a July 27, 2012 article entitled “In Sliding Internet Stocks, Some Hear Echo of 2000” (here), the New York Times detailed how the shares of some of the hottest publicly traded social networking and Internet companies have been hammered recently. The Times suggested that as the companies’ shares dropped “there were instant
Second Circuit Revives Dismissed Securities Suit Against U.S.-Listed Chinese Company
In October 2011, when Southern District of New York Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum dismissed the securities class action lawsuit that had been filed against China North Petroleum Holdings, Ltd, it was the first of the many cases recently filed against U.S.-listed Chinese companies to be dismissed (as discussed at length here). However, in an
Corporate Officials’ Strict Liability Conviction Under the Responsible Corporate Officer Doctrine Can Have “Career-Ending” Consequences
Under the Responsible Corporate Officer Doctrine, corporate officials can be held liable for misconduct in which they did not participate and of which they have been entirely unaware, based on their responsibility for the corporation itself. As shown in a July 27, 2012 opinion from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals (here
Another Libor-Scandal Antitrust Lawsuit Filed, This One on Behalf of Derivatives Investors
At the risk of sounding repetitive, I must report here that there has been yet another Libor-scandal related lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York. The latest lawsuit, filed on July 30, 2012, purports to be filed on behalf of a class of investors who bought U.S. dollar Libor-based derivatives beginning August 1