Regular readers know that in recent months I have been following two securities class action litigation filing trends: first, the incidence of COVID-19-related securities suit filings,  and, second, the influx of claims relating to macroeconomic factors, including, among other things, global supply chain disruption (which was itself caused at least in part by the coronavirus). In a lawsuit that includes allegations that involve both of these trends, a plaintiff shareholder has filed a securities class action lawsuit against the women’s online apparel company, Torrid Holdings, Inc. As discussed below, the complaint alleges, among other things, that in connection with the company’s July 2021 IPO, the company soft-pedaled the impact on the company from COVID-19 and from supply chain disruptions. A copy of the plaintiff’s November 16, 2022 complaint can be found here. Continue Reading Women’s Apparel Company Hit with COVID and Supply Chain-Related Securities Suit

Joel Bruckman
Sarah Abrams

As I have noted in prior post on this site (most recently here), the prospect of out-sized liabilities under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) is a significant concern for companies and for their insurers alike. As discussed in the following guest post from Joel Bruckman, Partner, Freeborn & Peters, LLP, and Sarah Abrams, Head of Professional Liability Claims, Bowhead Specialty Underwriters, recent BIPA-related developments further underscore these concerns and raise important insurance issues as well. I would like to thank Joel and Sarah 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 Joel and Sarah’s article. Continue Reading Guest Post: Runaway BIPA Recoveries Impact Company Liability and Cyber Insurance

If you have had the sense that under the current administration the SEC is more active and more aggressive, two reports issued this past week will confirm that your sense is correct. First, on November 15, 2022, the SEC’s Enforcement Division issued its Enforcement Results Report for FY 2022 (ended September 30, 2022), showing that during the fiscal year money ordered in SEC enforcement actions totaled $6.439 billion, the most on record in SEC history. Second, on November 16, 2022, Cornerstone Research, in conjunction with the NYU Pollack Center for Law & Business, issued its report on SEC Public Company-related enforcement activity during FY 2022, which shows that the agency’s actions against public companies increased relative to prior fiscal years and that the agency’s $2.8 billion in aggregate total monetary settlements with public companies was the highest in any fiscal year. Continue Reading You Aren’t Just Imaging Things: The Current SEC Really is More Active

Although there have been literally dozens of SPAC-related securities class action lawsuits filed since January 1, 2021, in recent months the pace of filing of these lawsuits has noticeably slowed. After an extended period when many of these suits were filed each month, during the period since May 31, 2022 only three of these suits have been filed. However, this past week, a SPAC-related  securities lawsuits was filed against Core Scientific, a digital mining company that merged with a SPAC in January 2022. As discussed below, this latest filed lawsuit has several interesting features. A copy of the complaint filed against Core Scientific can be found here. Continue Reading Digital Asset Mining Company Hit with SPAC-Related Securities Suit

As I have noted previously (most recently here), there have been a number of COVID-19-related securities class action lawsuits filed since the initial coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. in March 2020. But while these lawsuits have continued to be filed since the outset of the pandemic, as time has gone by, it has become increasingly challenging to say with certainty whether or not a new lawsuit is COVID-19-related. A case in point is the lawsuit filed this week against the online clothing rental and sales platform, Rent the Runway, Inc. (RTR). The lawsuit unquestionably raises allegations related to the challenges that the company faced (and faces) as a result of the pandemic; however, the plaintiff’s complaint raises a number of other allegations as well. For reasons discussed below, and even though the complaint raises a number of different kinds of allegations, I think that on balance the lawsuit counts as COVID-19-related. A copy of the complaint filed against RTR can be found here. Continue Reading Online Clothing Company Hit With COVID-19-Related Securities Suit

Gary Lill
Elisabeth Groehe

The D&O insurance market is cyclical and is currently going through one of its periodic cycle turns. In the following guest post, Gary Lill, Head of Professional Lines at IQUW, and Elisabeth Groehe, Professional Lines Underwriter at IQUW, examine the current D&O insurance market and discuss the challenges that D&O insurers currently face. A prior version of this article previously was published on the IQUW website. I would like to thank Gary and Elisabeth 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 Gary and Elisabeth’s guest post. Continue Reading Guest Post: Challenges in the D&O Market – A Sisyphean Task?

The Marriott Marquis San Diego

It was my pleasure last week to attend the annual PLUS Conference, this year held in San Diego. It was great to be back at a live PLUS event again and to see so many colleagues from around the industry. As always, the PLUS staff did an amazing job organizing the event, and the turnout was great as well. It was also great to be back in San Diego. It was a little bit cool and it rained on Tuesday but despite that San Diego was still beautiful. It was great to see many old friends and to make new friends as well. Continue Reading PLUS Conference in San Diego

Peter S. Selvin

In the following guest post, Peter S. Selvin, a partner with Beverly Hills, California based Ervin, Cohen & Jessup law firm where he chairs the firm’s insurance coverage and recovery practice, reviews two recent case decisions involving the question of whether or not D&O insurance policies apply to provide coverage for consumer protection claims arising from the sale or marketing of products. A version of this article previously published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal. I would like to thank Peter 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 Peter’s article. Continue Reading Guest Post:  Are Consumer Protection or False Advertising Claims Covered by Insurance?

One litigation trend that I have been following on this site since the initial coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. in March 2020 is the incidence of COVID-19-related securities class action litigation. Even though the outbreak is now well into its third year, these coronavirus-related cases continue to be filed. In the latest example of this phenomenon, on November 8, 2022, a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against Eiger Biopharmaceuticals in connection with the company’s efforts to develop a COVID-19 treatment. A copy of the plaintiff’s complaint in the case can be found here. Continue Reading Biopharma Company Hit with COVID-Related Securities Suit

As I noted in recent posts (for example, here), an anti-ESG backlash has been forming. The backlash has already taken a variety of forms, including anti-ESG legislation and anti-ESG litigation. Now, in what one media source called a “new front in a campaign against companies” related to ESG activities, a group of five Republican senators has sent letters to 51 large U.S. law firms warning the firms that the Senators plan to use their congressional oversight powers “to scrutinize the institutionalized antitrust violations being committed in the name of ESG.” The Senators’ letter campaign is described in a November 4, 2022 Reuters article (here). The Senators’ November 3, 2022 letters to the law firms can be found here. Continue Reading Senators Warn Law Firms Concerning ESG-Related Advice