On November 21, 2019, when a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against Aurora Cannabis, Inc. and certain of its directors and officers, the company became the latest U.S.-listed Canadian cannabis company to be hit with a U.S. securities class action lawsuit. The lawsuit against Aurora came just one day after a different … Continue Reading
Opt-outs “remain a small yet significant part of the overall securities class action landscape,” according to a recently updated Cornerstone Research report written in conjunction with the Latham & Watkins law firm. The report, entitled “Opt-Out Cases in Securities Class Action Settlements” (here) notes that the opt-out rate has more than doubled in the most-recent … Continue Reading
One of the most significant corporate litigation phenomena over recent years has been the rise of merger objection litigation, as result of which nearly every public company merger objection transaction has drawn at least one lawsuit. According to the latest study of merger litigation from Cornerstone Research, this phenomenon continued in 2018, with the same … Continue Reading
Every year after Labor Day, I take a step back and review the most important current trends and developments in the world of Directors’ and Officers’ liability and D&O insurance. This year’s review is set out below. Once again, there are a multitude of things worth watching in the world of D&O. Will the … Continue Reading
Plaintiffs filed federal court securities class action lawsuits at “near-record levels” during the first six months of 2019, according to a new report from Cornerstone Research. The July 31, 2019 report, entitled “Securities Class Action Filings: 2019 Midyear Assessment,” notes that the elevated filing levels continued in the year’s first half despite reduced numbers of … Continue Reading
One of the things that happened both in the lead up to and in the wake of the October 2018 legalization of cannabis-based products in Canada is that a number of Canada-based cannabis companies listed their shares on U.S. securities exchanges. From the outset, D&O insurers have regarded the cannabis companies as a distinct risk … Continue Reading
During the first six months of 2019, federal court securities class action lawsuit filings remained well above historical levels and roughly on pace with the elevated filing levels in 2018. The number of federal court securities suit filings was significantly increased by the number of federal court merger objection lawsuit filings; however, even disregarding the … Continue Reading
In a recent post, I took a look at the rise in the number of state court securities class action lawsuits that have been filed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Cyan case. In the following guest post, Priya Cherian Huskins of Woodruff Sawyer & Co. takes a deeper look … Continue Reading
Regular readers of this blog know that the statistics surrounding U.S. securities litigation in recent years are nothing short of alarming, including, for example, both record numbers of lawsuits and record percentages of listed companies sued. Severity trends are concerning as well. All of these trends are exacerbated by the impact of the U.S. Supreme … Continue Reading
One of the most significant phenomena in the world of corporate and securities litigation has been the rise of merger objection litigation. As has been well-documented, merger objection litigation reached the point in recent years that virtually every public company merger transaction drew at least one lawsuit. The circumstances surrounding merger objection litigation began to … Continue Reading
Over the course of the past few weeks, very substantial settlements were announced in two separate securities class action lawsuits, one involving the giant Internet company Alibaba and one involving the auto manufacturing company Fiat Chrysler. Given the size of these settlements, they are interesting in and of themselves. However, the settlements are interesting, separately … Continue Reading
I frequently received requests or questions relating to the increased risk of securities litigation that life sciences companies face. I have reviewed these issues in my own analysis of securities litigation filing trends (for example, refer here) as well as in my discussion of others’ analyses (for example, here). In another recent report, the Sidley … Continue Reading
The number of workplace discrimination charges filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission during Fiscal Year 2018 (which ended September 30, 2018) declined to the lowest level since FY 2006, according the EEOC’s recent statistical release. But while the number of charges overall are down, the number of sexual harassment charges increased, as did … Continue Reading
Driven by a general overall increase in the number of securities class action lawsuit filings, as well as by an increase in the number of M&A-related lawsuits involving accounting allegations, the total number of securities class action lawsuits involving accounting allegations filed in 2018 was well above historical levels, according to a newly released Cornerstone … Continue Reading
As I have noted in a number of posts (most recently here), the size of securities class action settlements rose significantly in 2018 compared to recent years. But what do the 2018 securities class action settlements look like when broken down according to the lead plaintiffs’ firm involved in the settlement? That is the question … Continue Reading
Aggregate, average, and median securities class action lawsuit settlement amounts all rose in 2018, according to the latest report from Cornerstone Research. The 2018 total settlement amount of just over $5 billion dollars is substantially higher than the prior year total and in fact is the third-highest total in the past 10 years. The $5 … Continue Reading
For many years, U.S.-listed companies based outside the U.S. have enjoyed a relatively advantageous pricing environment for their D&O insurance. Because many D&O insurance underwriters based outside the U.S. used a different pricing model than their U.S. counterparts, pricing for these foreign filers was in many instances lower than the pricing available to equivalent U.S.-based … Continue Reading
Between 2010 and 2016, the number of shareholder appraisal actions filed in Delaware courts increased every year, but in 2017 and again in 2018, the number of appraisal actions declined, according to a recent report from Cornerstone Research. The decline arguably is a result of recent Delaware Supreme Court decisions in which the court reversed … Continue Reading
As was the case in 2017, there were relatively few larger securities class action lawsuit settlements during 2018, compared to prior years. As reported in latest large securities class action lawsuit settlement report from ISS Securities Class Action Services (ISS), there were only four settlements in 2018 that were large enough to make the list … Continue Reading
As I have previously noted, 2018 was another extraordinary year for U.S. securities class action litigation, as filings overall remained at near-historical rates. One of the significant contribution factors to this development was the substantial number of securities suits filed against life sciences companies. The number and significance of the securities suits filed against life … Continue Reading
The number of federal court securities class action lawsuit filings remained “near record levels” during 2018, according to the latest report published by Cornerstone Research in conjunction with the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse. State court securities lawsuit filings, detailed in the report, drove securities class action litigation filing activity to even higher … Continue Reading
The pace of federal court securities class action filings during 2018 was “the highest since the aftermath of the 2000 dot-com crash,” according to a recent report from NERA Economic Consulting. Not only were the filings during the year at significantly elevated levels, but the filings “accelerated over the second half of the year, with … Continue Reading
The world of directors’ and officers’ liability is always dynamic, but 2018 was a particularly eventful year in the D&O liability arena. The past year’s many developments have significant implications for what may lie ahead in 2019 – and possibly for years to come. I have set out below the Top Ten D&O Stories of … Continue Reading
The heightened pace of securities class action lawsuit filings continued in 2018, as filing levels remained well above historical patterns, even though the total number of suits dipped very slightly compared to 2017. The total number of filings during 2018 was significantly inflated by the number of federal court merger objection lawsuit filings during the … Continue Reading
