The U.S Supreme Court did not issue its long-awaited decision in the Halliburton case yesterday and so it looks as if we will have to wait a little while longer to find out whether or not the Court will throw out the fraud on the market theory. The Court will for sure release its opinion
Is Climate Change a D&O Insurance Issue?
In a series of letters sent to individual board members of various major energy companies and to a number of participants in the directors and officers liability insurance industry, three environmental groups contend that climate change denial by energy industry representatives presents a risk of personal liability to the individual energy company board members. The
D&O Insurance: New York Appellate Court Refuses Dismissal for Insurer that Raised Late Notice Defense
A New York appellate court, applying New York law, has rejected a D&O insurer’s argument based on alleged late notice of claim that it had no coverage obligations for amounts Sirius XM Radio had incurred in underlying litigation, holding that the insurer’s policy was ambiguous on the timeliness requirements for notice of interrelated claims. A
Environmental Liability and D&O Exposure
Duke Energy, the largest provider of electricity in the United States, faces a number of challenges as it struggles to deal with the consequences of the February 2, 2014 coal ash spill at its Dan River Steam Station in Eden, North Carolina. In addition to the environmental remediation issues facing the company, two of its
D&O Insurance: Delaware Supreme Court Rules WaMu Liquidating Trust Coverage Suit Not Yet Ripe
In a May 28, 2014 opinion (here), the Delaware Supreme Court held that an action by the bankrupt Washington Mutual bank holding company’s liquidating trust seeking a judicial declaration of coverage under the bank’s D&O insurance program for claims asserted by the trust against the failed bank’s directors and officers must be dismissed
FDIC: Banks Improve, Problem Institutions Linger
Overall, the banking industry continued to improve in the first quarter of 2014, although banks did see their noninterest income decline due to reduced mortgage activity and a drop in trading revenue, according to the FDIC’s Quarterly Banking Profile for 1Q14. The latest Quarterly Banking Profile can be found here and the FDIC’s May 28,
Delaware Legislative Revision Proposed to Restrict Fee-Shifting Bylaws
As discussed in a recent post (here), in a May 8, 2014 decision the Delaware Supreme Court upheld the facially validity of a nonstock corporation’s bylaw provision shifting attorneys’ fees and costs to unsuccessful plaintiffs in intra-corporate litigation. Because the court’s holding seemed to be equally applicable to stock corporations as well as
Thinking About the Chinese Military Officials’ Hacking Indictment and Data Breach Disclosure Issues
Cybersecurity has been a hot button issue for quite a while, but the U.S. Department of Justice ratcheted things up last week when it announced the indictment of five Chinese military officers for hacking into U.S. companies’ computers to steal trade secrets and other sensitive business information. U.S. prosecutors clearly believe the intrusions were serious
Preparing for the SEC’s Accounting Quality Model Enforcement Tool Implementation
As part of the SEC’s efforts under chairman Mary Jo While to refocus the agency’s efforts to detect and pursue accounting fraud, the agency has undertaken a number of initiatives, including the formation of a Financial Reporting and Audit Task and the creation of the Center for Risk and Quantitative Analytics. As part of
Sounding the Securities Litigation Alarm in Australia
In an interesting and provocative article, an Australian attorney has sounded the alarm on escalating securities class action litigation in his country. The May 2014 article, written by John Emmerig of the Jones Day la firm’s Sydney office, is entitled “Securities Class Actions Escalate in Australia” (here). The article suggests that in light