On July 24, 2013, in a case the court said was one of “first impression,” the First Circuit held that, due to the nature of its involvement in the management of its portfolio company’s operations, a private equity firm was potentially liable for the portfolio company’s pension obligations. The decision has significant implications for the
Guest Post: Fiduciaries First — Understanding the Scope of Fiduciary Liability Insurance Coverage and New York’s IBM Decision
I am pleased to publish below a guest post from my good friend Kimberly M. Melvin and her colleague John E. Howell, both of the Wiley Rein LLP law firm. Kim and John’s article discusses a recent decision from New York’s high court and its implications for the scope of coverage under a fiduciary
Plaintiffs Substantially Prevail in Two Subprime Lawsuit Dismissal Motion Rulings
The conventional view is that plaintiffs may be faring poorly in many of the subprime-related cases. However, plaintiffs have in fact been doing relatively better in ’33 Act claims brought by purchasers of mortgage-backed securities. A recent ruling in the Wells Fargo Mortgage-Backed Certificates Litigation, in which a significant number of plaintiffs’ claims survived the defendants’ motions
Plaintiffs’ Extract Some Subprime Lawsuit Dismissal Motion Success
In several prior posts (most recently here), I have noted that defendants seem to be faring particularly well at the dismissal motion stage in the subprime and credit crisis-related lawsuits. However, in recent dismissal motion rulings in two subprime-related cases, one in a securities class action lawsuit and one in an ERISA class action
The List: ERISA Class Action Lawsuit Settlements
As D&O maven Dan Bailey noted in a recent memo (here), ERISA class action litigation represents a significant and growing liability exposure for benefit plan fiduciaries. With the recent addition of the $70.5 million settlement in the Tyco ERISA class action lawsuit (about which refer here) and the $55 million settlement in
Countrywide Settles Subprime-Related ERISA Lawsuit
In a noteworthy subprime-related litigation development, on August 5, 2009, the parties to the Countrywide ERISA action filed a stipulation of settlement (here), together with a request for preliminary court approval. Under the stipulation, the case is to be settled by a payment of $55 million, to be funded entirely by Countrywide’s fiduciary
Defense Prevails in Tellabs ERISA Stock Drop Case
A frequent securities class action lawsuit accompaniment is a companion ERISA stock drop lawsuit brought on behalf of employee participants in the defendant company’s benefit plan. These ERISA lawsuits have in recent years resulted in a string of impressive settlements, although the plaintiffs have not fared as well in the few cases that have actually
Subprime-Related ERISA Suits: Facing Skepticism?
Along with the flood of securities lawsuits, the current credit crisis has also generated a wave of litigation under ERISA, as I have detailed here. And just as many of the credit crisis-related securities cases have failed to survive preliminary judicial scrutiny (as noted recently here), at least some of the ERISA cases
Dismissal Denied in Subprime-Related ERISA Action
In a subprime-related lawsuit that highlights the advantages ERISA claimants may have over litigants seeking relief under the securities laws, a federal court has refused to dismiss the complaint filed under ERISA on behalf of benefits plan participants of NovaStar Financial.
In an opinion dated February 11, 2009 (here), Judge Nanette K.
Now, Madoff-Related ERISA Litigation
In a case demonstrating the range of both the potential legal theories and the prospective litigants that could become involved in Madoff-related litigation, a pension fund has filed an ERISA class action against an investment advisory firm for the advisory firm’s investment of the pension fund’s assets in a Madoff "feeder fund."
On February