Securities class action lawsuit filings remained at elevated levels in 2019, but the mix of cases changed during the year, according to the recently published annual report from NERA Economic Consulting. According to the report, which is entitled “Recent Trends in Securities Class Action Litigation: 2019 Full-Year Review,” there were relatively fewer merger objection lawsuits during the year, and relatively more standard securities suits. NERA’s January 21, 2020 press release about the report can be found here, and the report itself can be found here. My own analysis of the 2019 securities litigation can be found here.
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CBS #MeToo-Related Securities Suit Largely Dismisse, Though Some Allegations Survive
As the various stories and revelations came to light during the peak of the #MeToo movement, there were also a number of D&O lawsuits filed against companies whose executives were the target of the stories. Among these lawsuits was the #MeToo-related securities class action lawsuit filed against CBS. On January 15, 2020, in a lengthy and detailed opinion, Southern District of New York Judge Valerie Caproni largely granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit, although the lawsuit did survive as to one set of allegations involved alleged statements by former CBS executive Leslie Moonves. The court’s ruling underscores the difficulty for plaintiffs in trying to translate sexual misconduct allegations into securities claims.
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Guest Post: Climate Change Litigation Threats to Directors and Officers
As long time readers know, I have long been warning that climate change-related issues could have a significant impact on directors and officers liability exposures. In the following guest post, Francis Kean provides a summary outline of the specific litigation exposures that corporate directors and officers may face as a result of emerging climate change-related concerns. Francis is Executive Director FINEX Willis Towers Watson. Francis will be joining McGill and Partners in early spring 2020. I would like to thank Francis for allowing me to publish his 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 Francis’s article.
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Addressing “Silent Cyber” and the Risk of Coverage Gaps
One of the hot topics for mainstream P&C insurers these days is dealing with “silent cyber” – that is, the coverage for cyber-related losses in traditional property and casualty insurance policies. There are a number of initiatives underway in the insurance underwriting community as insurers try to address silent cyber. However, as noted in an interesting January 14, 2020 memo from the Covington law firm entitled “The Noise About ‘Silent Cyber’ Insurance Coverage” (here), these initiatives have important implications for policyholders. Among other things, these initiatives potentially could result in a gap in policyholders’ coverage for cyber-related losses, as discussed below.
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Georgia Supreme Court: Risk of Future Identity Theft Sufficient to Support Data Breach Negligence Claim
Plaintiffs seeking to pursue negligence claims for the disclosure of their personal information in a data breach often face hurdles in pleading a sufficient injury. The claimants’ failure to plead a sufficient injury frequently is the basis for dismissal. However, in a very interesting recent decision, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed the intermediate appellate court’s affirmance of the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ data breach claims, finding that the claimants had sufficient standing to assert their claims where they alleged that the disclosure of their personal information left them at an “imminent and substantial risk of identity theft.” As discussed below, the Court’s holding arguably makes data breach claims under Georgia law less susceptible to dismissal. However, as also discussed below, there are important limitations to the Court’s holding.
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Ninth Circuit Rejects Continuity of Coverage as Response to Late Notice of Claim
Regular readers know that among the recurring themes on this site are concerns about problems with the application of notice rules to preclude insurance for claims that would otherwise be covered under the policy. These problems are, in my view, particularly abrupt where a claims is made during one policy period and the notice is
The Top 25 Securities-Related Settlements Outside of North America
Securities class action litigation has been an important part of the corporate and securities litigation environment in the United States and Canada for many years. What has been interesting in more recent years has been the steady rise of collective investor actions outside North America. As these various claims have accumulated, a number of them have developed into significant settlements, as documented in a recent report. ISS Securities Class Action Services has published an interesting report entitled “The Top 25 Non-North American Settlements: Largest Securities-Related Settlements Outside of North America of All-Time” (here) detailing the largest collective investor action settlements in Europe, Australia, and Asia.
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Private Company Directors and Officers Hit with Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit
On my beat here at The D&O Diary, I cover the liabilities of corporate directors and officers. One objection I frequently hear is that I focus too much public companies and not enough on private companies. The reason I write about public company issues more than private company concerns is that the public company world usually is more eventful. However, every now and then, something comes up involving a privately-held company that reminds all of us that plenty happens in the private company D&O world, too. The most recent example is the shareholder derivative and class action lawsuit filed last week against executives of the electronic cigarette company, Juul Labs. As discussed below, this new lawsuit highlights the exposures that private company directors and officers can face and underscores the fact that even private companies can get hit with shareholder class action lawsuits.
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More of Readers’ 2019 Travel Pictures
As one of my year-end features on this site, I published in late December a post with my Top Ten favorite pictures from my travels during 2019. In the same post, I also invited readers to send in their favorite pictures from their own 2019 travels, with the idea that I would post the readers’ pictures here, on this blog. Last week, I published the first installment of readers’ travel pictures. Today, I am very happy to publish the second set of readers’ pictures. There are some great pictures in this set.
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Guest Post: Ransomware’s Year-End Thank You Note to Bitcoin
In the following guest post, John Reed Stark takes a look at the troubling rise of ransomware attacks, and the disturbing relationship between ransomware attacks and bitcoin. John is the President of John Reed Stark Consulting and former Chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement. I would like to thank John for allowing me to publish his 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 John’s article.
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