A few days ago when I published a post discussing a new COVID-19-related securities lawsuit I expressed my surprise that pandemic-related suits were still being filed in 2024, particularly after the pace of new coronavirus-related suits tailed off completely in the latter half of 2023. Well, it appears that the recent new case filing not just a single anomaly, as this past week yet another new pandemic-related securities lawsuit was filed.

On January 19, 2024, a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities suit against BioVie, a developmental stage biotech company, after the company reported that clinical trials for its Phase 3 drug candidate produced results the company concluded deviated from protocols and Good Clinical Practice (GCP) because the pandemic had limited patient access to clinical trial sites. A copy of the new complaint can be found here.Continue Reading Biotech Hit with Securities Suit After Pandemic Impact on Clinical Trials

One of the most distinct securities class action lawsuit filing phenomena since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the U.S. in March 2020 has been the surge of pandemic-related securities suits,  particularly during the period 2020 through 2022. This securities suit filing trend even continued into 2023, although the incidence of COVID-related suits dwindled during the year. However, in an unexpected development, a plaintiff shareholder has now filed yet another COVID-related securities suit against BioNTech, the German biotechnology company that, along with its partner Pfizer, was lionized for helping to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. The company was hit with a securities suit after its share price declined following a sizeable inventory write-off. A copy of the January 12, 2024, complaint against the company can be found here.Continue Reading A New COVID-Related Securities Suit for the New Year

As I have documented on this site, many COVID-related securities suits have been filed since the initial outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. At the core of many of these lawsuits are corporate claims that the defendant companies were positioned to profit from the pandemic. The U.S. Department of Justice now reports that a biotech executive has pleaded guilty to securities fraud and other charges in connection with his company’s false claims at the outset of the pandemic that it had developed a new blood-based test for COVID-19. A copy of the Department of Justice’s December 8, 2023, press release about the guilty plea can be found here.Continue Reading Biotech Exec Pleads Guilty to COVID-Related Securities Fraud

The COVID-19-related public health crisis ended earlier this year; the CDC declared the end of the public health emergency in May. While the pandemic may be over, many of the changes that the pandemic wrought remain. Some of these changes resulted in significant alterations to the operating environment for many businesses. The difficulties that businesses face in trying to adapt to the new environment has, in turn, and at least for some businesses, translated into securities lawsuits. The latest example of this phenomenon is the lawsuit filed last week against clinical trial company Syneos, whose business operations were not only disrupted by the pandemic, but also changed in ways that caused ongoing disruption the company’s business and financial results. The lawsuit alleges that the company and its executives misrepresented both the company’s response to the pandemic and to the changed business circumstances the company faced due to the pandemic. A copy of the July 27, 2023, complaint filed against the company can be found here.Continue Reading Clinical Trials Company Hit with COVID-Related Securities Suit

From the very beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, one related phenomena that immediately became apparent was the emergence of coronavirus-related securities class action lawsuits and other corporate and securities litigation. I have been tracking the COVID-related securities litigation since the very beginning, and now, even though we are now well into the pandemic’s fourth year, the COVID-related securities suits are continuing to be filed. In the latest example of a COVID-related securities suit filing, a plaintiff shareholder this week sued Danaher Corporation for the company’s disclosures related to the impact of the pandemic on the company’s sales. This latest filing suggests that the COVID-19-related securities litigation phenomenon may have further to go yet. A copy of the complaint in the new lawsuit against Danaher can be found here.Continue Reading Danaher Hit with COVID-Related Securities Suit Filing

Earlier this month, the U.S. Center for Disease Control announced the end in the U.S. of the COVID-19-related public health emergency that began in March 2020. Yet even though the public health emergency has now officially ended, the pandemic’s effects still continue to affect company’s financial results, and still continue to result in COVID-19-related securities class action lawsuits. In the latest litigation example, late last week a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company related to the fallout from the company’s early pandemic-related success with and commitment to its Disney+ streaming services, a bet that soured as the pandemic progressed. The new filing shows that though the public health emergency may have ended, the pandemic-related securities litigation risk continues.Continue Reading Disney Hit With Securities Suit with COVID-Related Allegations

Since the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in the U.S. in March 2020, there have been scores of COVID-related securities suit filed. However, as the pandemic itself progressed, the nature of the lawsuits being filed also changed. Over time, the plaintiffs’ lawyers began targeting companies that had initially prospered at the outset of the pandemic, but whose fortunes flagged as circumstances changed. The prototypical example of a COVID-19-related securities suit involving a company that experienced this particular sequence of events is the lawsuit filed against exercise equipment company Peloton, whose equipment sold briskly at the outset of the pandemic but whose sales slackened as government shutdown orders lapsed and people began returning to work. However, in a March 30, 2023 order (here), the court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss in the Peloton case, albeit without prejudice, in a decision that does not bode well in these kinds of change-of-fortune pandemic-related securities suits.Continue Reading Dismissal Granted in Peloton COVID-Related Securities Suit

As I have noted in prior posts (most recently here), a recurring type of pandemic-related securities suit involves companies whose fortunes prospered at the outset of the pandemic but whose performance sagged as the coronavirus outbreak evolved. The latest lawsuit of this type is the securities suit filed earlier this week against the retailer Target Corp., in which the plaintiffs allege that the surge in consumer demand at the outset of the pandemic led the company to overstock inventory, causing an inventory overhang that later undercut the company’s financial performance. A copy of the March 29, 2023, complaint against Target can be found here.Continue Reading Target Hit with Securities Suit Over Pandemic-Related Inventory Overhang

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic is now into its fourth year, plaintiffs’ lawyers continue to file pandemic-related securities class action lawsuits, increasingly in conjunction with allegations involving other macroeconomic factors, such as rising interest rates, economic inflation, supply chain disruption, and labor supply shortages. In the latest example of litigation of this type, last week plaintiffs’ lawyers filed a securities class action lawsuit against tool maker Stanley Black & Decker, alleging that the company misled investors that the pandemic-fueled surge in demand for the company’s product would continue even as conditions changed. A copy of the March 24, 2023, complaint against the company can be found here.Continue Reading Stanley Black & Decker Hit with COVID-Related Securities Suit

As I noted in posts earlier this month (here and here), even though the COVID pandemic is about to enter its fourth year, COVID-related securities suits continue to be filed. The latest example is the securities class action lawsuit complaint filed late last week against pharmaceutical delivery device firm Catalent, a firm whose revenues soared at the in the early stages of the pandemic but whose fortunes lagged as the pandemic progressed. A copy of the February 24, 2023 complaint against the company can be found here.Continue Reading Pharmaceutical Delivery Device Firm Hit with COVID-Related Securities Suit