In a recent post (here), I reviewed the steps that well-advised companies can take in light of the current coronavirus outbreak to try to mitigate their risk of management liability claims arising out of the pandemic. In the following guest post, Brent Ashley of the Hirschler law firm takes a look at the steps corporate boards can take in light of the COVID-19 pandemic to try to insulate themselves against claims based on alleged breaches of the duty of oversight. I would like to thank Brent 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 Brent’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: 7 Steps for Ensuring Director Oversight During COVID-19
On May 27, 2020, in the latest #MeToo-related securities class action lawsuit to fail to survive initial pleading hurdles, Judge 
As I have documented in prior posts (for example, 
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Since the outset of the coronavirus outbreak, a relatively modest number of COVID-19 related securities suits have been filed. However in the past two days, two additional coronavirus-related securities suits were filed, bringing the total number of coronavirus-related securities suits to nine, so far. The two new suits were filed against Sorrento Therapeutics, a biopharma company, and Carnival Corporation, a cruise ship line. The Sorrento complaint can be found 
When the U.S. Senate recently passed legislation that would bar access to U.S. securities exchanges to any foreign company whose auditor is not subject to the same regulatory inspections as domestic U.S. companies, it was the culmination of a series of moves by regulators, market authorities, and legislators to try to “level the playing field” and subject the foreign companies to the same scrutiny U.S. companies and their auditors face. The recently passed Senate legislation, Senate Bill 945, known as the 
On May 20, 2020, a plaintiff shareholder filed the latest securities class action lawsuit asserting claims based on COVID-19-related allegations. The lawsuit, filed against Elanco Animal Health, Inc., raises allegations concerning the company’s May 7, 2020 earning release, in which the company announced a significant revenue downturn that the company ascribed to the coronavirus outbreak. The complaint alleges that, in connection with the revenue downturn, the company announced that it had made changes in its distribution channels that had affected channel inventory levels and that in turn impacted the company’s financial results. A copy of the complaint can be found 