COVID-19

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In the early stages of the coronavirus-related close-down, most colleges and universities terminated live classes, switched to online lessons, and sent their students home. In some cases, affected students have filed lawsuits against their schools, seeking to recover tuition and fees paid for classes, housing, and food. The following posts discuss the extent of the exposure that these kinds of claims represent for these institutions’ boards of directors or boards of trustees.
Continue Reading Coronavirus-Related Suits Hit Higher Ed Institutions

In the latest securities suit related to the coronavirus outbreak, a plaintiff shareholder has filed a U.S. securities class action lawsuit against a Chinese real estate firm whose American Depositary Shares (ADSs) are listed on the NYSE, based on allegations that the company’s January 2020 IPO offering documents failed to disclose the impact of the outbreak on the company’s residential real estate operations in China. This latest filing is the first coronavirus-related securities lawsuit in the U.S. against a non-U.S. company. A copy of the plaintiff’s April 24, 2020 complaint can be found here.
Continue Reading U.S.-Listed Chinese Real Estate Firm Hit with Coronavirus-Related Securities Suit

Francis Kean

As the coronavirus outbreak has unfolded , one of the steps that insurers have been taking in response is to try to add coronavirus or pandemic exclusions to policyholders’ go-forward policies, in some instances included with respect to D&O insurance. In the following guest post, Francis Kean takes a look at an example of this type of exclusion. Francis is a Partner, Financial Lines, at McGill and Partners. A version of this article previously was published as part of a McGill client alert. I would like to thank Francis for allowing me to publish his article 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 Francis’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: The Dangers of COVID-19 Exclusions in D&O Policies

As the coronavirus outbreak has spread, the COVID-19 disease has struck millions across the globe. The demographics and geographic distribution of the disease will make for interesting study when the current outbreak has ended, but clearly the disease has struck both the mighty and modest. The high-profile victims include the Prince of Wales and the U.K. Prime Minister. Other victims have included (and likely will continue to include) senior corporate executives. When key execs contract the disease, their companies face the question whether the executives’ illness must be disclosed.  As discussed in Judy Greenwald’s April 21, 2020 Business Insurance article (here), there are no bright line answers to this question.
Continue Reading If Top Exec Has Covid-19, Does the Company Have to Disclose It?

As readers know, I have been keeping track of COVID 19-related securities class action lawsuits as they have been filed over the course of recent weeks (most recently here). One of the companies to get hit with a COVID 19 related securities suit is the pharmaceutical company Inovio; as discussed here, a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities suit against the company based on alleged statements by the company’s CEO about the company’s readiness to prepare and begin testing a coronavirus vaccine. Now the company’s board has been with a separate shareholder derivative lawsuit based on the same coronavirus-related allegations. A copy of the plaintiff’s complaint, filed on April 20, 2020, can be found here.
Continue Reading Pharma Company Hit with COVID 19-Related Derivative Suit

At Noon EDT on Wednesday April 22, 2020, I will be participating in a free hour-long Business Insurance webinar with my good friends Priya Cherian Huskins of Woodruff Sawyer and Bill Passannante of the Anderson Kill law firm on the topic of D&O Risks from COVID-19. The session will be moderated by Business Insurance’s Gavin…

As I have noted in numerous post on this blog (most recently here), among the many different types of fallout from the current coronavirus outbreak are the potentially significant implications for corporate liability and for D&O insurance. In the following guest post, Lawrence J. Bracken, Geoffrey B. Fehling and Lorelie S. Masters of the Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP law firm consider these implications, including the types of claims that may arise and the impact the pandemic may have D&O insurance policyholders and their insurers. I would like to thank the authors for allowing me to publish their article 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 publish a guest post. Here is the authors’ article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: D&O Insurance Issues Arising from the COVID-19 Crisis

Many readers may have seen the news this past week that the estate of a deceased Walmart employee who had died of complications from COVID-19 has filed a Wrongful Death lawsuit against the company. According to the lawyer who filed the complaint, the lawsuit is the “first known COVID-19 wrongful death lawsuit.” Even though a Wrongful Death lawsuit is far outside this blog’s usual remit, I tracked the complaint down and read it carefully, in order to think more about possible future coronavirus blame casting that could arise in the D&O claims arena. While the wrongful death lawsuit may be the first of its type, it surely will not be the last, and its filing may foreshadow other possible claims.
Continue Reading Thinking About Coronavirus Blame and the Possible Course of D&O Claims

More than a month ago, when I first wrote about the possibility that the coronavirus outbreak could lead to D&O claims, I noted that the pandemic was having a devastating impact on certain industries. At the same time, I noted that the viral outbreak could prove a boon for other industries; among the industries I cited as a possible winner was the video teleconferencing industry. Indeed, since the onset of the outbreak’s onset, many of us have for the first time used the services of Zoom Video Telecommunications and Zoom video teleconferences have been proliferating. But while Zoom usage has soared, privacy and security concerns have also arisen.

Now Zoom has been hit with a securities class action lawsuit based on allegations that the surge in usage following the coronavirus outbreak allegedly revealed allegedly undisclosed weaknesses in company’s security, and alleged privacy and security weaknesses contrary to the company’s alleged representations. As discussed below, in addition to representing an example of a coronavirus-related securities suit, the new lawsuit also represents an example of the ways in which privacy concerns can lead to D&O claims.
Continue Reading Zoom Hit With Securities Suit Raising Pandemic-Linked Allegations Based on Privacy Concerns

As I have noted in prior posts (most recently here), the current coronavirus outbreak presents corporate boards with a number of challenging issues. In the following guest post, Nick Goldin, Eric Swedenburg and Brad Goldberg of the Simpson Thacher law firm review the considerations that corporate boards should take into account as their companies grapple with the challenges that the pandemic poses. The authors extend their appreciation to Sarah Eichenberger for her substantial contributions to this piece. A version of this article previously was published as a Simpson Thacher client memorandum. I would like to thank the authors 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 the authors’ article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Considerations for Corporate Directors As Their Companies Confront COVID-19