The number of securities class action lawsuit filings was up slightly in 2013 compared to 2012, although the 2013 filings remained well below historical averages. While securities litigation picked up in 2013 compared to the year before, the more interesting question going forward is what the impact of the Halliburton case now pending before the
Guest Post: Bankruptcy in Securities Class Actions: Case Outcomes, Individual Liability and Side A Protection
Of the different contexts within which securities class action lawsuits arise, one of the most significant is the bankruptcy context. As detailed in the following guest post from Michael Klausner and Jason Hegland of Stanford Law School, securities class action lawsuit arising in bankruptcy are different from cases involving solvent companies. Their guest post provides
First the Regulatory Investigation, Then the Securities Suit
It is nothing new for private securities litigation to follow in the wake of a company’s announcement that it is the target of an SEC investigation. Similarly, civil litigation following after a company’s announcement of the existence of an FCPA investigation is a phenomenon I have frequently noted on this blog. A number of these
Guest Post: “Robocop” on the Beat:What the SEC’s New Financial Reporting and AQM Initiative May Mean for Public Companies
With the arrival of the new Chair of the SEC, Mary Jo White, the agency has undertaken a variety of new enforcement initiatives. Among the most interesting is the agency use of data anallytics to try to uncover public company accouunting abuses. The following guest post from Christopher L. Garcia, Paul Ferrillo of the
Shareholders Obtain $882 Million Default Judgment in Longtop Financial Securities Suit
During the period 2010 to 2012, plaintiffs’ lawyers rushed to file a wave of securities suits against U.S.-listed Chinese companies. In general, the cases filed as part of this wave that have reached the settlement stage have settled for relatively modest amounts. However, at least one of these cases has now resulted in an absolutely
SEC Releases Fiscal 2013 Whistleblower Report
Whistleblower reports to the SEC continued to rise during the latest fiscal year, according to the agency’s annual Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program report to Congress. According to the November 15, 2013 report, a copy of which can be found here, there were 3,238 whistleblower reports to the SEC during the 2013 fiscal year, brining the
Game Changer? The U.S. Supreme Court to Revisit “Fraud on the Market” Presumption
In a development that has the potential to change the way private securities suits in the United States are litigated, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case in which the petitioners seek to have the Court revisit the “fraud on the market” presumption. The presumption allows plaintiffs in securities suits under
Whistleblower Report Follow-On Securities Suit: We’ll Be Seeing More of These
On October 30, 2013, the SEC announced another whistleblower bounty award under the Dodd-Frank whistleblower program. Although the size of this latest award ($150,000) is relatively modest compared to the recent $14 million award (about which refer here), the most recent award does suggest that awards under the whistleblower program are gaining momentum.
SEC Releases Proposed Crowdfunding Rules
On October 23, 2013, the SEC finally approved (unanimously) and released for public comment the proposed rules implementing the crowdfunding provisions of the JOBS Act. The rules will not become effective, subject to any revisions, until the end of a 90-day comment period, meaning that the rules will not go into effect until some time
Dodd-Frank Anti-Retaliation Provisions Don’t Protect Overseas Whistleblower
When the SEC Whistleblower Office presented its first full fiscal year annual report last November, the agency reported that 324 (or 10.8%) of the 3,001 whistleblower reports the agency received came from whistleblowers outside the United States. This statistic suggested that the Dodd-Frank whistleblower provisions could lead to the revelation of financial misconduct overseas, and