Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Insider Trading Prohibition Act, a bill intended to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to address insider trading issues. In the following guest post, Partners Brooke Cucinella and Michael Osnato, Counsel Anar Rathod Patel, and Associate Rebecca Sussman, all of the Simpson Thacher law firm, analyze the bill and discuss its implications. A version of this article was previously published as a Simpson Thacher client memorandum. I would like to thank the authors for allowing me to publish their 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 the authors’ article. Continue Reading Guest Post: Developments in Insider Trading Enforcement: The House Passes the Insider Trading Prohibition Act
A court in the Netherlands has ruled that a collective investor action against Petrobras and related entities pending in the court can go forward, notwithstanding the arbitration clause in Petrobras’s articles of association. The defendants had sought to argue that because of the arbitration clause the foundation that was pursuing the Dutch action on behalf of investors had no standing to pursue the claims. The Dutch court’s May 26, 2021 ruling rejecting the defendants’ argument will now permit the action to go forward. A copy of Petrobras’s May 27, 2021 press release about the court’s ruling can be found 
The importance of ESG issues for companies and their executives is nothing new, but in recent days ESG issues seem to have taken center stage. The surprising success of activist investor Engine No. 1 in 
Among the industries hit hardest at the outset of the coronavirus outbreak last year was the cruise ship business. As these companies were forced to cease operations, revenues plunged. Several of the companies were hit with securities class action lawsuits as well, though, as discussed below, these lawsuits have not fared well. On May 28, 2021, in the latest ruling in a COVID-19-related securities suit against a cruise ship line, the federal judge in the securities suit pending against Carnival Corp. granted the defendants motion to dismiss. The court’s ruling evinces a great deal of skepticism of the plaintiffs’ case. 
Commercial insurance policies often are contractually complex. Many insurance policies include multiple endorsements modifying provisions of the base insurance policy form. Interpreting the way that the various parts of the policy work together is an important part of determining insurance coverage. When it is unclear how the parts relate uncertainty results. In a recent decision, the Eighth Circuit found that where multiple policy endorsements modified the same policy exclusion, the net effect of the endorsements was ambiguity, resulting in the conclusion that the exclusion did not apply at all. The appellate court’s decision is a cautionary tale for anyone involved in the insurance placement process. 
When senior SEC staff issued a statement in April saying that most warrants issued by SPACs should be treated as liabilities rather than as equity, it 
Regular readers will recall that last year and earlier this year, plaintiffs’ lawyers filed a series of shareholder derivative lawsuits against the directors of several companies alleging that the lack of diversity on the companies’ boards breached the directors’ fiduciary duties. In the latest ruling to address preliminary motions in these various cases, the court in the board diversity lawsuit filed against directors and officers of Oracle has granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss. As discussed in greater detail below, the plaintiffs’ track record on the board diversity lawsuits is not good so far; the ruling in the Oracle suit represents the third successive dismissal granted in these suits. 
An important recent litigation phenomenon that 
A cybersecurity incident earlier this year at the technology company Ubiquiti has given rise to a securities class action lawsuit against the company and two of its executives. The lawsuit is the latest example of the D&O risk exposure relating to cybersecurity. As discussed below, the lawsuit’s allegation illustrates that the way that a company handles bad news can be an important litigation risk factor. A copy of the May 19, 2021 securities lawsuit complaint against Ubiquiti can be found