In its latest annual study, ISS Securities Class Action Services reports that in 2020 the Robbins Geller law firm secured the highest dollar value in securities class action lawsuit settlements during the year, and also was involved in the highest number of separate settlements. The report, which includes both U.S. and Canadian settlements, ranks the top 50 plaintiffs law firms by total dollar value recoveries and the Top Ten plaintiffs law firms ranked by number of settlements achieved. The March 23, 2021 ISS SCAS report, which is entitled “The Top 50 of 2020,” can be found here. Continue Reading ISS SCAS Report Ranks Top 50 Plaintiff’s Securities Law Firms by 2020 Settlement Values

As I have documented on this site, over the last few months plaintiffs’ lawyers have filed a series of lawsuits against the directors of companies that allegedly lack African American representatives on their corporate boards. Many of these lawsuits, particularly at the outset of this litigation filing trend, were filed by the same law firm. Among the first of these lawsuits was a shareholder derivative lawsuit filed in July 2020 against the board of the social media company, Facebook. In an order dated March 19, 2021 (here), Northern District of California Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s complaint. The dismissal was without prejudice with respect to the plaintiff’s proxy misrepresentation claims under Section 14(a). As discussed below, the court’s ruling could have important implications for the other pending (and prospective future) board diversity lawsuits. Continue Reading Facebook Board Diversity Lawsuit Dismissal Motion Granted

Joseph Burke
John Cheffers

One of the more noteworthy and interesting observations emerge the 2020 year end securities class action lawsuit filing review was the finding that, while the overall number of lawsuit filings declined in 2020 relative to 2019, the number of lawsuits filed against non-U.S. U.S.-listed companies actually increased during the year. In the following guest post, Joseph Burke and John Cheffers, take a closer look at the securities lawsuit filings against non-U.S. companies and suggest some possible causes for the amount of litigation. Joe is the Senior Economist and Data Scientist at Watchdog Research, Inc. and John is Director of Research and legal counsel for Watchdog Research. This summary article is also available on Watchdog Research’s website and the full report is available on request. I would like to thank Joe and John 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 Joe and John’s article. Continue Reading Guest Post: Foreign Restatements and Securities Class Action Suits

In a pattern that is becoming familiar, Lordstown Motors, an electric vehicle company that recently merged into a publicly traded SPAC and that was the subject of an even more recent short seller report, has been hit with a securities class action lawsuit. The defendants named include only executives of the vehicle company and do not include any former officers of the SPAC. A copy of the March 18, 2021 complaint can be found here. Continue Reading Another Short Seller-Targeted Post-DeSPAC Electric Vehicle Company Hit with a Securities Suit

In the latest sign that coronavirus-related securities lawsuits are continuing to be filed, a plaintiff shareholder has filed a securities suit against a biotechnology company and two if its executives, alleging that the company drove up its share price by promoting its HIV-focused drug candidate as a treatment for COVID-19. Although the new complaint is similar in many respects to prior COVID-19-related securities lawsuits, it has several distinct features as well. A copy of the plaintiff’s complaint can be found here. Continue Reading Biotech Company Hit with COVID-19-Related Securities Suit

The number of securities class action settlements increased only slightly in 2020 compared to 2019, but the aggregate total of all 2020 securities suit settlements doubled compared to the equivalent 2019 total, largely as a result of several “mega” settlements over $100 million, according to a March 17, 2021 report from Cornerstone Research. According to the report, which is entitled “Securities Class Action Settlements: 2020 Review and Analysis,” the average securities suit settlement in 2020 was larger than in 2019, but the median 2020 settlement decreased slightly compared to the 2019 median. Cornerstone Research’s March 17, 2021 press release can be found here and the report itself can be found here. Continue Reading Cornerstone Research: Large Settlements Increased Total and Average 2020 Securities Suit Settlements

It was over a year ago – March 11, 2020, to be exact – that the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak to be a pandemic. And it was also over a year ago – March 12, 2020, in fact – that the first of the coronavirus outbreak-related securities class action lawsuits were filed. Since that time, more than two dozen other coronavirus-related securities suits have also been filed. But while the pandemic related litigation has been an interesting phenomenon, a year into the development there are some interesting questions about the litigation. Such as, for example, why hasn’t there been more securities litigation related to the pandemic? In this post, I take a look at the litigation (so far) and try to answer a few of the questions. Continue Reading A Year of COVID-19-Related Securities Lawsuits

In the latest example of a company that recently merged into a publicly traded SPAC getting hit with a post de-SPAC transaction securities suit, electric vehicle technology company XL Fleet Corp. has sustained a securities class action lawsuit that names as defendants both directors and officers of the post-merger operating company and a former officer of the SPAC. As discussed below, the new lawsuit shares several features in common with many of the recent SPAC-related lawsuit filings. A copy of the March 8, 2021 lawsuit can be found here. Continue Reading Electric Engine Technology Company Hit with Post De-SPAC Merger Securities Suit

As the lawsuits have been coming in, we have been tracking the coronavirus outbreak-related litigation, with more than two dozen securities suits accounted for so far. But while the plaintiffs’ lawyers have proven willing to pursue pandemic-related securities suits, the track record so far for these kinds of suits has been decidedly mixed. In the latest sign of the mixed bag of results for plaintiffs’ lawyers on these kinds of suits, on February 25, 2021, the plaintiffs’ lawyers who initiated the coronavirus outbreak-related securities suit against Royal Caribbean Cruises entered a voluntary dismissal without prejudice with the court (here). As discussed below, this development may have significance for other potential cases as well as for cases that have already been filed. Continue Reading Coronavirus-Related Securities Suit Against Royal Caribbean Voluntarily Dismissed

One of the interesting things about the 2020 securities class action lawsuit filing numbers is that even though the overall number of securities suit filings went down in 2020, the number of securities class action lawsuits filed against non-U.S. companies actually increased during the year. The 2020 securities suit filings against non-U.S. companies are reviewed in detail in a new report from the Dechert law firm entitled “2020 Developments in U.S. Securities Fraud Class Actions Against Non-U.S. Issuers.” The March 8, 2021 report can be found here. Continue Reading U.S. Securities Suit Filings Against Non-U.S. Companies Increased in 2020