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Recent securities class action lawsuit filing analyses have noted (as discussed, for example here), that the number of COVID-related securities suit filings has declined so far this year relative to last year. Arguably the more interesting observation is that these lawsuits are being filed at all in 2025, now well over five years since the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. In the latest example of the continued filing of these kinds of suits, late last week, a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against Lineage, a cold storage focused real estate investment trust (REIT). The complaint alleges that in the run-up to the company’s July 2024 IPO, the company soft-pedaled the impact of the downturn of pandemic-driven demand. The new complaint against Lineage can be found here.Continue Reading REIT Hit With COVID-Related Securities Suit

As I noted in a recent post (here), even though we are now more than five years past the initial COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., companies continue to be hit with securities class action lawsuits alleging that the lingering effects of the pandemic’s disruption continue to affect their operations and financial results. The latest COVID-related securities lawsuit example provides an interesting variant on the typical allegations. The complaint in a new securities suit against pharma supply company West Pharmaceutical Services alleges not that the company failed to disclose the full impact of the pandemic on its operations and financial results, but rather that the company’s reports about the pandemic’s pervasive disruption masked other undisclosed customer losses.  A copy of the complaint against West can be found here.  Continue Reading Pharma Supply Company Hit with COVID-Related Securities Suit

One of the more interesting developments in the securities litigation arena over the past several years has been the continuing influx of pandemic-related securities class action lawsuit filings. Here we are now approaching what will be the sixth year since the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in the U.S. and yet the pandemic-related suits are continuing to come in. In the latest example, last week a shareholder plaintiff filed a securities class action lawsuit against the toy company Hasbro, alleging that the company misled investors by claiming that the level of inventory it built up in response to pandemic lockdown-related consumer demand was appropriate, only to later announce it would have to incur substantial inventory reduction costs. A copy of the November 13, 2024, complaint against Hasbro can be found here.Continue Reading Toy Company Hit with Pandemic-Related Securities Suit

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        

In my recent roundup of the top stories in the world of directors’ and officers’ liability and insurance, I noted that a host of macroeconomic factors – such as supply chain disruptions and labor supply constraints — continue to weigh on companies and, in some instances, translate into securities class action litigation. I have also noted in numerous prior posts how COVID-19 has itself resulted in securities lawsuit filings. In the latest example of a securities suit filing resulting from these various phenomena, last week a shareholder plaintiff filed a securities lawsuit against the robotic aircraft systems development and service company AeroVironment after the company delivered disappointing results due to supply chain woes resulting from COVID-19. The complaint is both representative of these types of cases and illustrative of how these kinds of concerns, even after a significant time lag, can result in a current securities lawsuit filing. A copy of the plaintiff’s August 30, 2023, complaint can be found here.Continue Reading Robotic Aircraft Company Hit with COVID-19 and Supply Chain-Related Securities Suit

In my recent round-up of the top D&O stories of 2022, one of the stories I identified was the contribution of macroeconomic factors to the filings of securities class action lawsuits during the year. Among the macroeconomic factors I identified, beyond interest rate increases, economic inflation, and supply chain disruption, was the disruption to the labor force following, or perhaps resulting from, the pandemic. A recently filed securities suit shows how these kinds of factors can translate into securities litigation.Continue Reading Labor Supply Disruption Contributes to Recently Filed Securities Suit

       

Readers will recall that in my recent wrap-up of top D&O liability and insurance issues of 2022, I included on the list the continuing prevalence of COVID-related securities class action lawsuit filings. Now, even though the coronavirus pandemic is about to enter its fourth year, the COVID-related lawsuits continue to be filed. In the first COVID-related lawsuit filing of 2023, a plaintiff shareholder has filed a securities class action lawsuit against the vaccine development company Invivyd, Inc. (formerly known as Adagio Therapeutics, Inc.). A copy of the January 31, 2023, complaint against the company can be found here.Continue Reading First COVID-Related Securities Suit Filing of the Year      

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 filed last week against Amazon. In yet another case showing how COVID-related concerns are continuing to roil companies and attract securities suits, earlier this week a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against developmental-stage pharmaceutical company Molecular Partners AG in part owing to setbacks the company encountered in its efforts to develop a COVID-19 treatment candidate. A copy of the July 12, 2022 lawsuit filed against Molecular Partners can be found here.
Continue Reading Drug Development Company Hit with COVID-19-Related Securities Suit

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.
Continue Reading Pace of Securities Suit Filings in First Half 2022 Slightly Below Last Year’s Annual Level