From the earliest days of the options backdating scandal, one of the recurring questions has been the potential extent of outside director liability exposure (refer, for example, here). On September 17, 2008, In a development that may also have significant implications for more recent events, the SEC filed settled options backdating-related charges against three
Options Backdating Settlement News: Apple and UnitedHealth
According to news reports (here), on September 8, 2008, Judge Jeremy Fogel of the Northern District of California preliminarily approved the settlement of the Apple options backdating derivative litigation.
As reflected in the parties’ Stipulation of Agreement of Settlement (here), the plaintiffs in the consolidated Apple derivative action agreed to
Options Backdating Litigation: The Hits Just Keep on Coming
Even though the current subprime litigation wave seemingly has swept the prior scandal into the past, lawsuits based on options backdating allegtions stubbornly continue to come in. Within recent days, plaintiffs’ lawyers have filed two new options backdating-related derivative lawsuits. The options backdating scandal may now be well over two years along, but it continues
Blast from the Past: A New Options Backdating Lawsuit
Subprime-related litigation may be all the rage, but the latest securities class action lawsuit harkens back to the era of the prior scandal-driven event. On July 8, 2008, plaintiffs’ attorneys filed an options backdating-related securities class action lawsuit against MRV Communications and certain of its directors and officers.
A copy of the plaintiffs’ attorneys&rsquo
Headline News: Settlements, Lawsuits, Dismissals
About the UnitedHealth Group Class Action Settlement: UnitedHealth Group announced on July 2, 2008 (here) that it reached an agreement to settle its high profile options backdating-related securities class action lawsuit for $895 million. A July 3, 2008 Law.com article discussing the settlement can be found here.
Not only is this
A Duo of Interesting Options Backdating Settlements
Cablevision: On June 4, 2008, Cablevision Systems announced (here) that it had entered a stipulation to settle the options-backdating litigation pending against the company, as nominal defendant, certain of its directors and officers, and other defendants. Although the Cablevision settlement is only the latest in a growing list of options backdating-related lawsuit resolutions
Are Options Backdating Lawsuits Settling Low?
In a very interesting May 15, 2008 paper entitled “Do Options Backdating Cases Settle for Less?” (here), NERA Economic Consulting takes a look at the options backdating-related securities class action lawsuits settlements to date, and concludes that “in the cases that have settled to date, the amounts paid to plaintiffs have been substantially
Uh-Oh! Serious Options Backdating Settlement Problems
As reflected in my running tally of options backdating lawsuit settlements (which can be accessed here), a number of the options backdating-related derivative lawsuits have settled for some combination of an agreement to pay the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees, some adjustment to the company officials’ options grants, and the company’s adoption of corporate governance reforms.
Two Options Backdating Securities Lawsuits Dismissed
In two recent federal district court decisions, two options backdating-related securities class action lawsuits – one involving Witness Systems and one involving Jabil Circuit – were dismissed.
First, in the Witness Systems case, on March 31, 2008, Judge Clarence Cooper of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted the defendants&rsquo
Don’t Forget About Options Backdating
Amidst all the subprime hoopla, it would be easy to forget that only a year ago, options backdating was the hot topic. Options backdating might now seem passé, but several considerations suggest that options backdating remains important and that we still have a long way to go before we can be sure we have seen