Securities Litigation

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The newly disclosed $80 million settlement of the Yahoo data breach-related securities class action lawsuit will not make the list of the Top 100 securities suit settlements, but it is significant in its own way just the same. Because the settlement is the first substantial data breach-related shareholder lawsuit recovery, it represents a milestone development in a number of respects, as discussed below. The parties’ March 2, 2018 Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement can be found here.
Continue Reading Yahoo Settles Data Breach-Related Securities Suit for $80 million

Prior observers have already noted that in 2017 the value of securities class action lawsuit settlements plunged to lows not seen in years, largely due to from a shortage of large or even moderate settlements. These observations about the lack of larger settlement are underscored by the latest large securities suit settlement report from ISS Securities Class Action Services (ISS). In its annual report, entitled “The Top 100 U.S. Class Action Settlements of All Time (as of December 31, 2017)” (here), ISS reports that only two securities class action lawsuit settlements approved during 2017 were large enough to make the Top 100 list. The report has a number of other interesting observations about securities suit settlements as well.
Continue Reading ISS Releases Updated Top 100 U.S. Securities Suit Settlements List

One of the most distinct phenomena at the peak of the Internet bubble in the late 90s was the way that so many otherwise entirely ordinary companies added “dot com” to their names to try to cash in on the frenzy. It now looks as if some companies are attempting moves from the same playbook amidst the current cryptocurrency mania. Companies with no prior connection either to bitcoin or blockchain are adopting names or strategies as a way to try to ride the current wave, even where the companies have little or no experience with the technologies. Regulators noting these developments have started sounding the alarm bell. And in at least one instance, these kinds of developments have led to securities litigation.
Continue Reading Company Capitalizing on Blockchain Mania Draws Securities Suit

This past year was an eventful one in the corporate and securities litigation arena. In the following guest post, Haynes and Boone, LLP Partners Dan Gold, Kit Addleman, Thad Behrens, Emily Westridge Black, Carrie Huff, Tim Newman, David Siegal, and Odean Volker take a look at the important securities litigation developments during 2017. This article was previously published as a Haynes and Boone client alert. I would like to thank the authors for their willingness to publish their memorandum on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to readers of this site. Please contact me directly if you are interested in submitting a guest post. Here is the authors’ guest post.
Continue Reading Guest Post: 2017 Year in Review — Securities Litigation

In general, securities litigation filing trends emerge gradually and across long stretches of time. These kinds of long term trends have been the subject of a number of recent reports discussed on this site – including, for example, recent reports from NERA Economic Consulting (about which refer here), Cornerstone Research (here), as well as my own report. Though trends often become apparent only over the course of months and years, sometimes they are apparent in much shorter time frames. As it happens, the securities suit filings on a single day last week managed to neatly encapsulate all of the important current securities litigation filing trends.
Continue Reading The Sum of All Securities Litigation Filing Trends

It is now a commonplace observation in the D&O arena that life sciences companies – and in particular small biopharma companies – are frequent targets of securities class action lawsuits. As a result of these observations about claims frequency, biopharma companies often pay more than other kinds of companies for their D&O insurance. But do these companies really face a heightened securities litigation exposure sufficient to warrant these higher rates? The following guest post examines this question. This post was written by Michael Klausner, Professor of Law, Stanford Law School, Jason Hegland, Executive Director, Stanford Securities Litigation Analytics, and SSLA researchers Carin LeVine, Julia Laurence and Quito Mali Tin-Hung Tsui. I would like to thank the authors for their willingness to allow me to publish their guest article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is the authors’ guest post.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Do Small Biopharma Firms Really Face Disproportionate Risk from Securities Class Actions?

In the following guest post, Boris Feldman of the Wilson Sonsini law firm takes a look at important current developments in California shareholder litigation. Boris’s article previously was published as an AIG whitepaper. I would like to thank Boris and AIG for allowing me to publish this article as a guest post. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Boris’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Current Developments in Shareholder Litigation in California

For the second straight year, securities class action lawsuit filings reached record levels in 2017, according to the January 30, 2018 report from Cornerstone Research. According to the report, entitled “Securities Class Action Filings: 2017 Year in Review” (here), securities suit filings during the year reached “unprecedented levels” and companies on U.S. exchanges were more likely to be the subject of a securities suit than in any previous year. Cornerstone Research’s January 30, 2018 press release about the report can be found here. My own analysis of the 2017 securities class action lawsuit filings can be found here.
Continue Reading Cornerstone Research: 2017 Securities Lawsuit Filings at “Unprecedented Levels”

According to a January 29, 2018 report from NERA Economic Consulting, there was “an explosion” of U.S. federal court securities class action litigation filing in 2017, as new securities suits were filed at a “record pace.” The report, entitled “Record Trends in Securities Class Action Litigation: 2017 Full-Year Review,” can be found here. NERA’s January 27, 2018 press release regarding the report can be found here. My analysis of the 2017 securities class action lawsuit filings can be found here.
Continue Reading NERA: 2017 Securities Suits Filed at “Record Pace”

In the recent Advisen quarterly claims webinar, when asked to make a claim prediction for 2018, I said that I thought we would see more cryptocurrency-related regulatory action, enforcement action, and litigation this year. Some might say I was not really going out on a limb with this prediction. After all, earlier this week, Jay Clayton, the Chair of the SEC, and J. Christopher Giancarlo, the head of the CFTC, took to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal to make the point that their respective agencies  are closely monitoring cryptocurrency activities and that the agencies will take action when warranted. That same day, the CFTC announced its third fraud enforcement action in a week.
Continue Reading As Predicted, Another Cryptocurrency-Related Securities Suit