On July 30, 2014, when a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against the company and certain of its directors and officers, Galectin Therapeutics became the latest company to be hit with a securities suit following press reports that the company had used a stock promotion firm to try to boost its share
SEC Files Enforcement Action Over Internal Controls Reporting: A Sign of Things to Come?
One of the noteworthy features of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was the legislation’s creation of the requirement for reporting companies to provide a certification from management regarding the company’s internal controls. This requirement has not been the focus of a great deal of attention since the legislation was enacted in 2002. However if the administrative actions
Whistleblower Bounties: A Good Idea? UK Regulators Say No
When Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act four years ago, one of the legislation’s signature features was the creation of potentially massive bounties for whistleblowers that reported financial fraud to the SEC. The possibility of recovering a bounty, which could range from ten to thirty percent of recoveries over $1 million, seems to have encouraged whistleblowers
Second Circuit Vacates Dismissal of JinkoSolar Securities Suit
In an interesting July 31, 2014 opinion (here), the Second Circuit vacated the dismissal of the securities class action lawsuit that had been filed against JinkoSolar Holdings Co. Ltd, and certain of its directors and officers, as well as against its offering underwriters. This ruling will be of interest to many readers because
Dark Pool Class Action Securities Suit Filed Against Barclays
On July 28, 2014, in the latest securities suit to be filed in the wake of high-profile concerns about ‘high frequency trading,” a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against Barclays and certain of its officers relating to the company’s operation of and alleged statements about
Advisen Releases 2014 First Half Corporate and Securities Litigation Report
The level of all corporate and securities filings continued to decline in the second quarter of 2014 as filing activity returns to levels that prevailed before the financial crisis, according to the latest quarterly D&O claims activity report of Advisen. According to the report, filing levels in the second quarter reflected the “fewest securities and
Guest Post: Class Certification Timing and the IndyMac MBS Case in the Supreme Court
As I discussed in a prior post (here), in March 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up the IndyMac case in order to consider whether the filing of a class action lawsuit tolls the statute of repose under the Securities Act (by operation of so-called “American Pipe” tolling) or whether the
First Half Securities Lawsuit Filings Consistent with Recent Years’ Filing Levels
The number of securities class action lawsuit filings during the first half of 2014 was slightly above the number of filings in the first half of 2013. On an annualized basis this year’s filings are consistent with the full year filing figures for 2012 and 2013, though well below longer term historical averages.
During the
Guest Post: Halliburton: Procedures and Percentages Part II—Should We Expect Any Changes Following the Supreme Court’s Ruling?
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this week in the Halliburton case, questions have continued to swirl about the implications of the court’s decision. In the following guest post, Jennifer Spaziano of the Skadden law firm, takes a look at the impact the Halliburton decision will have on securities class action procedures, outcomes and
Halliburton: U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Overturn Basic, Allows Defendants to Rebut Presumption of Reliance
On June 23, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court released its long-awaited decision in Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, in which the Court had taken up the question whether or not to set aside the presumption of reliance based on the fraud on the market theory that the Court first recognized in its