As I have noted in prior posts (most recently here), there have already been at least two coronavirus-related securities class action lawsuits filed. In the following guest post, Priya Cherian Huskins, takes a look at these first pandemic-related cases and compares and contrasts them with general securities litigation filings patters. She also takes a look at the implications of the cases for coronavirus-related company disclosures. Priya is a Senior Vice President and Partner at Woodruff Sawyer. A version of this article previously appeared in the D&O Notebook. I would like to thank Priya for allowing me to publish her 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 Priya’s article. Continue Reading Guest Post: Coronavirus: An Update on Securities Suits and on Updating Company Disclosures
Among the more significant securities class action filing trends in recent years has been the rise in event-driven litigation – that is, lawsuits based on adverse developments in the defendant company’s business operations, as opposed to allegations based on alleged financial or accounting misrepresentation. But while event-driven suits arguably have garnered the most attention, the reality is that the number of federal court securities class action lawsuits involving accounting allegations was at “record levels” in 2019, at least when merger-related accounting suits are taken into account. According to a new report from Cornerstone Research, the number of securities suit filings in 2019 involving accounting allegations was nearly double the historical average. The March 25, 2020 report, entitled “Accounting Class Action Filings and Settlements: 2019 Review and Analysis” can be found 
The coronavirus pandemic poses a host of threats and challenges for every organization. The outbreak also presents a number of serious challenges for boards of directors as well. In the following guest post, Paul Ferrillo, a partner in the McDermott, Will & Emery law firm, considers the challenges that boards are facing and the litigation threats that may arise as a result. I would like to thank Paul for allowing me to publish his 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 Paul’s article. 
With the news about the coronavirus outbreak dominating the headlines, other important stories have faded into the background — though they definitely have not gone away. Among these important continuing stories is the U.S. trade war with China. The frontlines of this trade war are on the battlefield of economic competition, which these days includes, among other things, export and import controls and other coercive measures. As 
Among the numerous companies hit with #MeToo-related management liability lawsuits in the late 2017 to early 2019 time frame was the national pizza restaurant company Papa John’s International Inc. The plaintiffs in the 
The Delaware Supreme Court unanimously held that corporate charter provisions requiring claims under the Securities Act of 1933 to be litigated in federal court are facially valid. These kinds of provisions were proposed after the U.S. Supreme Court’s March 2018 decision in Cyan affirming that state court’s retain concurrent jurisdiction for ’33 Act liability actions. However, in December 2018, the Delaware Chancery Court ruled that federal forum provisions are invalid and unenforceable. In its March 18, 2020 decision (