As the various blue-ribbon panels studying the competitiveness of the U.S. financial markets have proposed various regulatory reforms, one recurring theme has been the proposal for auditor liability caps (refer here), a topic that is also under study by the European Commission (refer here). A 2007 paper by Professor Lawrence Cunningham of the
More Options Backdating Settlements and Other Web Notes
Rambus Settles Securities Lawsuit: In a September 7, 2007 press release (here), Rambus announced that it had settled the July 2006 options backdating-related securities class action lawsuit that had been filed against the company and certain of its directors and officers. Rambus has agreed to pay $18 million in exchange for a dismissal
Insider Trading: It Still Matters
There is an understandable tendency to focus on emerging risks and latest trends, because new issues often are the most interesting and because no one wants to get blindsided by something coming over the horizon. But sometimes the old standard issues are the most important ones. Amidst all the hubbub about subprime lending, options backdating,
The Subprime Lending Mess: Blame the Gatekeeper Time Already?
As I noted in prior posts (most recently here), the long-running options backdating blame game eventually morphed into an exercise that included suing the gatekeepers. Even though the subprime mortgage lending litigation machine has only recently gotten cranked up, it has already turned into yet another round of gatekeeper scapegoating. According to a September
D & O Underwriters Get Active in Underwriting Subprime Litigation Risk
In an earlier post (here), I commented on the D & O industry’s probable response the the litigation wave arising from the subprime lending mess, including the likelihood of increased underwriting around subprime exposures. The heightened scrutiny that I had surmised apparently is now a reality. An August 30, 2007 Bloomberg.com article reports
Special Litigation Committee Terminates Options Backdating Derivative Action
On August 24, 2007, Rambus announced (here) that a Special Litigation Committee (SLC) of its board of directors had completed its review of “claims related to stock options practices that are asserted in derivative actions against a number of present and former directors and officers of the Company.”
Rambus had previously announced (
AIM’s Success and U.S. Capital Market Competitiveness
As I have noted in prior posts (most recently here), the several blue-ribbon panels that have recently examined the competitiveness of the U.S. financial markets have been particularly concerned with the apparent loss of company listings to overseas exchanges, particularly the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). These would-be reformers have cited AIM’s
Will the Subprime Meltdown Affect the D & O Marketplace?
As I have previously noted (most recently here), the subprime mortgage meltdown has produced a wave of lawsuits, including securities class action litigation (which I am tracking here). Even thought we are clearly only at the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a very long-developing story, the question is already being asked: what
Will the Subprime Meltdown Affect the D & O Marketplace?
As I have previously noted (most recently here), the subprime mortgage meltdown has produced a wave of lawsuits, including securities class action litigation (which I am tracking here). Even thought we are clearly only at the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a very long-developing story, the question is already being asked: what
The REALLY Troublesome Thing about the Subprime Mess
According to data form the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), there was $10 trillion in outstanding mortgage debt at the end of 2006. Of this, subprime loans accounted for $1.4 trillion. Of that amount, about $1.08 trillion was packaged into securities that, according to the OCC, are not being held by banks,