As readers know, in recent years I have been tracking two securities class action litigation filing trends: the filing of SPAC-related lawsuits, and the filing of COVID-related lawsuits. In a noteworthy development, a securities suit filed last week embodies both of these filing trends. That is, a company that was formed through a SPAC merger has been hit with a securities suit based on COVID-related allegations. As discussed below, the new lawsuit has several interesting features. A copy of the February 28, 2024, complaint can be found here.Continue Reading Two-Fer: SPAC-Merged Company Hit With COVID-Related Securities Suit
Every year after Labor Day, I take a step back to survey the most important current trends and developments in the world of Directors’ and Officers’ liability and insurance. This year’s review is set out below. As the following discussion shows, this is a particularly eventful time in the world of D&O.
It is so interesting to me that, notwithstanding the passage of time since the initial coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. in March 2020, plaintiff shareholders continue to file COVID-19-related securities class action lawsuits — as we saw, for example, in the infrastructure overcapacity lawsuit 
The number of securities class action lawsuit filings in the first half of 2022 remained at the lower levels that prevailed last year and below the more elevated levels that prevailed during the period 2017-2020. Though the number of securities class action lawsuit filings in the year’s first six months is below the recent higher levels, the number of suits filed is still consistent with long-term averages. The difference in the number of filings so far this year and the elevated numbers during the recent period were both largely due to merger objection lawsuit filings patterns.
In the now more than two-and-a-quarter years since the initial COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., a significant number of COVID-related securities class action lawsuits have been filed. What is surprising is not that the suits have been filed; rather, it is that even at this late date, the COVID-related suits continue to be filed. As time has gone by, however, it has become increasingly challenging to say with clarity whether a particular lawsuit is or is not “COVID-related.” The securities class action lawsuit filed late last week against online information platform, Yext, illustrates the increasing difficulty of making the COVID-related categorization, as discussed below.
Almost from the very outset of COVID-19 in early 2020, investors and others have filed pandemic-related securities suits and other claims against companies and their executives. Even though the initial outbreak is now nearly 27 months in the past, claims activity continues. In the latest development, a grand jury has returned an indictment against a health care company’s former CEO concerning statements the CEO made in April 2020 about the company’s ability to profit from sales of COVID-19 rapid tests. The SEC filed a parallel enforcement action against the company and the CEO as well.
In the latest edition of its annual report, the Sidley Austin law firm takes a detailed look at important securities litigation developments in 2021 relating to life sciences companies. The report includes not only a review of life sciences companies’ securities litigation class action filings trends but also examines life sciences companies’ track record in the courts, both with respect to motions to dismiss in the district courts and on appeal. The law firm’s report, entitled “Securities Class Actions in the Life Sciences Sector: 2021 Annual Survey” can be found