In a September 21, 2007 opinion (here), issued following an earlier bench trial, United States District Judge Charles A. Pannell, applying Georgia law, rejected AFC Enterprises’ D & O carrier’s attempt to rescind AFC’s D & O policy and ordered the carrier to pay over $24 million in compensatory damages and prejudgment
Court Dismisses Options Backdating Securities Lawsuit
On September 27, 2007, Amkor Technology announced (here) that the United States District Court for the District of Arizona had granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the securities class action lawsuit pending against the company and several of its directors and officers. As noted in a prior post (here), the initial
Will Subprime Gatekeeper Blame Reach Lawyers, Too?
In an earlier post (here), I discussed a recent case in which investors sued a subprime mortgage lender’s auditor, as one example of the ways in which aggreived parties may seek to impose gatekeeper blame on professionals for the subprime lending mess. A recent lawsuit filed against the prominent New York law firm
Has the Two-Year Lull in Securities Lawsuit Filings Ended?
One of the most oft-noted observations (refer, for example, here) concerning directors’ and officers’ liability exposure is that since mid-2005 the number of securities class action filings has fallen well-below historical averages. When NERA Economic Consulting recently released its 2007 mid-year report on securities class actions (refer here for my prior post about the
Where to Look for Subprime Risk: Everywhere?
As the subprime lending mess has unfolded, one of the more interesting challenges has been trying to figure out where the subprime risk is. This query is not simply a matter of figuring out which financial institutions engaged in subprime lending (although this surely is part of the equation). The more complicated part of the
The Weiss Indictment and Schulman’s Plea Agreement
In what may be the beginning of the final act in the Milberg Weiss criminal investigation, on September 20, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Mel Weiss of participating in a scheme that paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to paid plaintiffs in over 235 class action and shareholders derivative lawsuits. The payments, allegedly made
Looking at Lerach’s Agreement to Plead Guilty
According to news reports (here), on September 18, 2007, Bill Lerach has agreed to plead guilty to a federal conspiracy charge. The plea agreement can be found here, the criminal information can be found here, and the governement’s press release can be found here. Hat tip to the WSJ.com Law
Temperature Rises on Climate Change Disclosure Issues
In prior posts (refer here) and other publications (here), I have written about the growing potential exposure to directors and officers of publicly traded companies arising from global climate change concerns. My views have been met with some interest, but also with significant skepticism. But while there are admittedly as yet no
NERA Releases Mid-Year 2007 Securities Class Action Study
In an earlier post (here), I noted Cornerstone Research’s release of its mid-year 2007 of securities class action lawsuits filings and settlements. On September 13, 2007, NERA Economic Consulting released its own mid-year 2007 study, entitled “Recent Trends in Shareholder Class Action Litigation: Filings Stay Low and Average Settlements Stay High – But
More Subprime Lawsuits
Regular readers know that I have been maintaining a list (here) of subprime lending-related securities class action lawsuits. A cluster of new subprime lending lawsuits arrived this week, and these new lawsuits suggest additional directions in which the suprime lending litigation wave may be heading.
First, a lawsuit filed in behalf of employees