As readers will recall, in March 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court held in the Cyan case that state courts retain concurrent jurisdiction for liability actions under the Securities Act of 1933. Commentators have correctly identified this decision as primarily of concern to IPO companies. However, one question I regularly get is whether Cyan could mean that companies conducting secondary offerings could also face state court class action securities litigation. I have usually answered this question by saying that while it is theoretically possible, for a number of reasons I thought it was relatively unlikely. Besides, I usually have added, I am not aware of any class action lawsuits in which claimants have filed ’33 Act claims relating to a secondary offering in state court. That is, I was not aware – until now. Continue Reading Secondary Offerings and State Court Securities Suits

Paul T. Curley

One of the more interesting businesses to emerge in recent years has been the legal marijuana industry. Because of lingering legal issues, this industry’s emergence has been accompanied by a host of complications. These complications in turn raise a number of challenges for insurers seeking to get involving in this industry. In the following guest post, Paul T. Curley takes a look at the opportunities and challenges for insurers in connection with the legal marijuana industry. Paul is a partner in the Insurance Coverage and Coverage Litigation Group at Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan LLP. 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. Continue Reading Guest Post: Marijuana:  Big Opportunities and Challenges for Insurers

Doug Greene
John McCarrick

In the following guest post, Doug Greene and John McCarrick take a look at the way that securities class action lawsuits settle and make a suggestion of a way for D&O insurers and defense counsel to try to improve settlement outcomes. Doug is the leader of BakerHostetler’s firmwide Securities and Governance Litigation Team. John is the chair of White and Williams’ firmwide Financial Lines Group. A version of this article previously appeared on Law 360. I would like to thank Doug and John for their willingness to allow me to publish their article as a guest post. 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 Doug and John’s article. Continue Reading Guest Post: Improving Securities Class Action Outcomes Through Early Damages Analysis

Over the course of the past few weeks, very substantial settlements were announced in two separate securities class action lawsuits, one involving the giant Internet company Alibaba and one involving the auto manufacturing company Fiat Chrysler. Given the size of these settlements, they are interesting in and of themselves. However, the settlements are interesting, separately and together, for several other reasons, among other things for the fact that both involve companies organized and based outside the U.S. but with securities trading on a U.S. exchange. Each of these settlements is described below, and a discussion of the settlements’ significance follows. Continue Reading A Closer Look at Two Recent Securities Lawsuit Mega Settlements

I frequently received requests or questions relating to the increased risk of securities litigation that life sciences companies face. I have reviewed these issues in my own analysis of securities litigation filing trends (for example, refer here) as well as in my discussion of others’ analyses (for example, here). In another recent report, the Sidley Austin law firm has taken a detailed look at important securities litigation developments in 2018 relating to life sciences companies. This latest report includes not only a review of life sciences companies’ securities litigation class action filings trends but also takes a look at the life sciences companies’ track record in the courts, on motions to dismiss in the district courts and on appeal. The court ruling analysis suggests a number of important implications for life sciences companies’ disclosure practices. The law firm’s report, entitled “Securities Class Actions in the Life Sciences Sector: 2018 Annual Survey” can be found here. The law firm’s two-page report summary can be found here. Continue Reading A Closer Look at 2018 Securities Litigation Against Life Sciences Companies

Le Palais du Luxembourg, viewed from le Jardin du Luxembourg

The D&O Diary’s European assignment continued this past week with a short stop in Paris before heading home. I was in Paris for some business meetings, but I also had some other important things to attend to there as well. The most important thing that required my immediate attention upon my arrival in Paris was to check in on an old, dear friend that recently suffered a serious misfortune. Continue Reading Paris Update

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St. James’s Park, London

The D&O Diary is on assignment in Europe this week, with a first stop in London for meetings and for an industry event. I have been to London many times before but I have to say I think I like it more every time I travel there. And it is particularly enjoyable to be there in the Spring, when the flowers are in bloom and the trees are blossoming. Continue Reading April in London

Peter Selvin
Ben Clements

In the following guest post, Peter Selvin and Ben Clements take a look at the legal principles involved in the allocation of defense expense under a D&O insurance policy. Peter Selvin is a member of TroyGould PC, and Ben Clements is an associate at the firm. I would like to thank Peter and Ben 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 site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Peter and Ben’s article. Continue Reading Guest Post: Allocation of Defense Costs in D&O Litigation

One of the now-standard storylines about the global financial crisis is that despite all the chaos very few corporate executives were prosecuted and even fewer went to jail. However, rather than interpreting these circumstances to suggest that there was insufficient evidence to convict corporate executives beyond a reasonable doubt, some observers have decided that the problem was that there is something wrong with our criminal justice system.

 

One observer who has made a hobby horse out of these issues is the U.S. Senator and Presidential Candidate, Elizabeth Warren. Senator Warren has now introduced new legislation that would lower the standard of criminal liability for corporate executive. Among other things, the new legislation would make corporate executives criminally liable for mere negligence in certain circumstances, even in the absence of the degree of intent that has for centuries been viewed in our legal system as the indispensable basis for a criminal conviction. As discussed below, this legislation is not only a bad idea in terms of our country’s corporate competitiveness, it also threatens one of our legal system’s bedrock principles. Continue Reading Senator Warren’s Proposed Executive Liability Legislation is Contrary to Legal Traditions

In a terse, unsigned one-sentence April 23, 2019 per curiam opinion, the U.S. States Supreme Court has just one week after oral argument dismissed the grant of certiorari in the case of Emulex Corporation v. Verjabedian as “improvidently granted.” The Court had granted cert in the case in order to address a circuit split on the question of whether or not a claimant in must plead scienter in order to establish a tender offer misrepresentation claim under Section 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or whether allegations of negligence are sufficient. In the merits briefing and at oral argument, the question arose whether or not there is even a private right of action under Section 14(e) at all. As discussed below, the Court’s dismissal leaves all of these questions unaddressed.  The April 23, 2019 opinion in the case can be found here. Continue Reading Supreme Court Punts on Tender Offer Pleading Standard Case