follow-on civil litigation

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Regular readers undoubtedly have noticed that I have been writing a lot lately about the False Claims Act (FCA). That is because the Trump Administration has decided to deploy the FCA as one of its principal legal tools to enforce and advance its policy objectives. Insurers wondering what the administration’s enforcement approach may mean for their claims portfolios may want to take a look at the securities class action lawsuit recently filed against online insurance broker SelectQuote. The company, whom the DOJ sued in May in a False Claims Act suit alleging the company received “illegal kickbacks” from insurers, has now been hit with a follow-on securities suit relating to the FCA allegations. As discussed below, the new follow-on lawsuit suggests that D&O insurers will want to consider the implications of the administration’s active deployment of the FCA as an enforcement tool. A copy of the August 11, 2025, lawsuit against SelectQuote can be found here.Continue Reading False Claims Act Defendant Hit with Follow-On Securities Suit        

In what appears to be one of the largest derivative lawsuit settlements ever, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has agreed to provide $500 million over ten years to fund the reconstruction of the company’s global compliance structure. The lawsuit and its settlement follow in the wake of extensive federal and state antitrust enforcement activity against the company. The settlement is subject to court approval. A copy of the plaintiffs’ unopposed May 30, 2025, motion for preliminary approval of the settlement can be found here.Continue Reading Alphabet Settles Antitrust-Related Derivative Suit for $500 Million

In prior posts, I have noted the phenomenon of securities class action lawsuit filings following in the wake of antitrust enforcement actions (most recently here). A new securities lawsuit filed just before year-end presents an interesting new variation on this sequence. The new lawsuit, filed against both Capri Holdings Limited and Tapestry, Inc., two high-fashion firms, and certain of their executives, relates back to an enforcement action the FTC filed against the firms to block their plans to merge. As discussed below, the lawsuit involves several interesting features. A copy of the plaintiff’s December 23, 2024, complaint can be found here.Continue Reading Securities Suit Follows After Antitrust Ruling Bars Firms’ Merger Plans

As I have previously noted on this site (for example, here), a long-standing and frequently recurring litigation pattern has been the filing of a corporate or securities lawsuit in the wake of an antitrust enforcement action. In the latest example of this pattern, the card payment processing company Visa has been hit with a securities class action lawsuit after the DOJ launched an antitrust enforcement action against the company in September. There are several interesting features to this new lawsuit, as discussed below. The November 20, 2024, complaint against Visa can be found here.Continue Reading Antitrust Enforcement Action Against VISA Leads to Follow-On Securities Suit

All eyes have recently been focused on the U.S. Department of Justice’s announcement of its new corporate whistleblower awards program. The DOJ’s program potentially could have a significant impact on future corporate crime prosecutions, but meanwhile the Securities Exchange Commission’s whistleblower program has been up and running for years and indeed just passed the thirteenth…

On September 28, 2023, the SEC announced that it had filed charges against and entered into a settlement agreement with the Illinois electric utility Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) and its corporate parent Exelon Corporation in connection with an alleged scheme to influence the then-speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, Michael Madigan. The SEC separately filed a complaint against ComEd’s former CEO in connection with the same allegations. In an October 12, 2023 post on the Cooley law firm’s PubCo blog (here) Cydney Posner wrote about the SEC enforcement actions and raised the interesting question of whether Political Corruption is Securities Fraud? It is a question well worth asking. However, as I discuss below, there is a long-standing connection between corruption and bribery allegations and securities class action lawsuits and other types of claims.Continue Reading Can Corrupt Political Activities Support Securities Fraud Allegations?

Long-time readers know that a litigation phenomenon on which I have frequently commented is the filing of securities class action lawsuits in the wake of antitrust enforcement actions. These follow-on civil actions represent something of a translation of an antitrust matter into a securities lawsuit. In the latest example of this phenomenon, a plaintiff shareholder has filed a securities suit against the concert company Live Nation following news reports of an imminent U.S. Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against the company and its ticketing service Ticketmaster relating to allegations that the concert company pressures clients to use the ticketing service. The new lawsuit raises a number of interesting issues, as discussed below. A copy of the August 4, 2023 complaint can be found here.Continue Reading Antitrust Enforcement Leads to Follow-On Securities Suit Against Live Nation

One trend I have noted on this site in recent years is the proclivity of plaintiffs’ lawyers to file securities class action lawsuits or shareholder derivative lawsuits in the wake of antitrust regulatory or enforcement actions. These kinds of lawsuits tend to cluster in specific industries as antitrust enforcement authorities concentrate on alleged anticompetitive behavior in those sectors. One industry that recently was the focus of both regulatory action and securities litigation is the poultry production industry.

As discussed here, beginning in 2016 companies in this industry that found themselves the subject of antitrust enforcement actions were hit with follow on securities litigation. In connection with one of those suits involving poultry producer Pilgrim’s Pride the court recently granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss. Both the lawsuit and the court’s ruling are significant given the current Presidential administration’s ramped-up antitrust enforcement approach and the possibility for resulting follow-on D&O claims. The Court’s March 8, 2022 order in the Pilgrim’s Pride case can be found here.
Continue Reading Antitrust Enforcement Follow-On Securities Suit Against Pilgrim’s Pride Dismissed

As reflected in their January 18, 2022 stipulation of settlement, the parties to the consolidated Teva Pharmaceutical Industries securities class action litigation have reached an agreement to settle the case for a payment of $420 million. The settled claims relate to underlying allegations concerning price-fixing in connection with the company’s generic drug products. According to the statements of a company spokesperson, the “vast majority” of the settlement amount will be funded by the company’s D&O insurers. The settlement is subject to court approval. A copy of the parties’ January 18, 2022 stipulation of settlement can be found here.
Continue Reading Teva Settles Price-Fixing-Related Securities Class Action Litigation for $420 Million

As I noted in a prior post, last week the SEC filed an enforcement action against Stable Road Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), and its intended merger target, Momentus, relating to Momentus’s alleged misrepresentations, as well as Stable Road’s alleged lack of due diligence. Perhaps inevitably, a plaintiff shareholder has filed a securities class action lawsuit against Stable Road; Momentus; and other defendants, adding to the growing number of SPAC-related securities suits that have been filed this year. A copy of the July 15, 2021 complaint in the new securities lawsuit can be found here.
Continue Reading SPAC Subject to SEC Enforcement Action Hit with Follow-On Securities Suit