As reported in a prior post (here), on January 16, 2008, a civil jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs in the securities class action lawsuit pending against Apollo Group and its former CEO and CFO. In a January 24, 2008 statement (here), the company provided "clarification of certain
Tellabs 7th Circuit Redux: Why it Matters
In a decision noteworthy both for the prominence of the case and for the implications of its analysis, the Seventh Circuit, hearing the Makor Issues & Rights Ltd. v. Tellabs Incorporated case on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, has once again reversed the district court’s dismissal of the case.
The Supreme Court, in its
Jury Awards Plaintiff $277.5 Million in Apollo Group Securities Trial
On January 16, 2008, a civil jury in the Apollo Group securities lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona entered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff class on all counts, awarding damages of $5.55 per share, an amount that according to Bloomberg (here) could reach as much
Supreme Court Rules in Stoneridge Defendants’ Favor
On January 15, 2008, in a 5-3 majority opinion (here) written by Justice Kennedy (pictured to the left), the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Eighth Circuit in the Stonridge Investment Partners, LLC v Scientific Atlanta case. The Court concluded that the implied right of action under Section 10(b) did not reach the respondent
Tracking the Opt-Out Settlements
In prior posts (most recently here), I have written about the increasing importance of opt-out settlements in the context of securities class action litigation. Along the way, numerous readers have inquired whether I am aware of a publicly available resource that is tracking the securities lawsuit opt-out settlements. I am not aware of any
A Closer Look at the 2007 Life Sciences Securities Lawsuits
In prior posts (most recently here), I noted that even during the two-year lull in securities lawsuits filings that prevailed between mid-2005 and mid-2007, filings against life sciences companies – and pharmaceutical companies in particular – continued more or less unabated. More recently I noted (here) that pharmaceutical companies in the Standard
A Closer Look at the 2007 Securities Lawsuits
The first of the 2007 year-end securities class action reports has already appeared (refer here), with others soon to follow. As I have noted elsewhere (most recently here), the most important securities trend during 2007 was the return of lawsuit filing activity to historical levels, after a two-year lull. But there were numerous
NERA Releases 2007 Year-End Securities Lawsuit Report
On December 21, 2007, NERA Economic Consulting released (here) its 2007 Year-End Update analyzing recent trends in shareholder class actions. The NERA reports notes, as I have discussed in prior reports (most recently here), that securities lawsuit filing activity levels returned to historical levels in the second half of 2007. In addition,
Another Securities Class Settlement Complication: Government Intervention
In recent posts (most recently here), I have discussed the potential difficulties that opt-out actions may present for securities class settlements. As if that were not complication enough, now the government wants to get into the act. As discussed below, the Department of Justice has appeared to object to the pending settlement of the
Busted Buyout Lawsuits: A 2007 Trend?
When the dust finally settles and the reports on 2007 class action filings are being written, one development that should be noted as a contributing factor to the increased filings in the second half of 2007 is the emergence of class action lawsuits based on busted buyouts. Disappointed target companies that have become the target