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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

According to a new report about SPACs and SPAC-related securities litigation, even though the market for SPAC IPOs may have cooled in recent months, SPAC-related litigation has “yet to heat up.” Indeed, according to the report, litigation involving the 977 SPACs that completed IPOs during the period January 2019 and April 2022 “may continue to grow over the next few years.” The report, which is entitled “SPAC Federal Securities Litigation Analysis” and was written by David P. Abel, Managing Attorney, U.S. Market Advisors Law Group PLLC, can be found here.
Continue Reading Further SPAC-Related Securities Litigation Filings Likely in the Months Ahead?

Regular readers of this blog know that class action securities fraud lawsuits almost never go to trial. But “almost never” is not the same as “never.” Every now and then, there is an unusual case that does go to trial. This past week, a federal court jury reached a verdict in one of those rare and unusual cases. On June 14, 2022, a federal jury in the Southern District of New York held after trial that Michael Reger, co-founder of Dakota Plains Holdings, Inc. was liable for securities fraud and control person fraud, but not for insider trading. Reger was the sole remaining defendant in the case after the other defendants last month reached a settlement. A copy of the jury’s June 14, 2022 verdict form can be found here.
Continue Reading Rare Jury Verdict in Securities Fraud Lawsuit

In a new lawsuit that closely mirrors the features of many recent SPAC-related securities lawsuits, and that indeed almost entirely replicates the most recent suits, a plaintiff shareholder has initiated a securities class action against Canadian-based lithium battery recycler, Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. Li-Cycle completed a merger with a publicly traded SPAC in August 2021 and was the subject of a short-seller report in March 2022. The lawsuit against Li-Cycle is the latest in the development of what is becoming an increasingly significant securities litigation phenomenon this year. A copy of the April 19, 2022 lawsuit against Li-Cycle can be found here.
Continue Reading After Short Seller Report, Lithium Battery Recycler Hit with SPAC-Related Securities Suit

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 here. The same site also includes a link to a short summary of the report.
Continue Reading A Detailed Look at the 2021 Securities Litigation Against Life Sciences Companies

Since the earliest outbreak of the coronavirus in the U.S. in March 2020, I have been tracking the coronavirus-related D&O litigation. There have been D&O suits filed throughout the intervening period, though the nature of the suits and the kinds of allegations have evolved over time. One recent aspect of the changes has been that, as pandemic-related circumstances have blended into general business conditions, it has become increasingly difficult to say with certainty whether certain new suits are or are not pandemic-related. A case in point is a lawsuit filed earlier this week against software company Everbridge, which experienced a recent stock price decline due to a number of circumstances including some that the company itself declared to be pandemic-related. I discuss below my reasons for including this new lawsuit in my tally of coronavirus-related lawsuits. A copy of the complaint filed on April 4, 2022 Central District of California can be found here.
Continue Reading New Securities Suit Against Software Company is in Significant Part COVID-Related

The number of securities class action lawsuits filed against life sciences companies in 2021 declined overall relative to 2020 but remained steady as a proportion of the total number of securities class action lawsuits filed during the year, according to a new report from the Dechert law firm. The report, entitled “Dechert Survey: Developments in Securities Fraud Class Actions Against U.S. Life Sciences Companies: 2021 Edition,” states that there were a total of 59 securities suits filed against life sciences companies in 2021, compared to 80 in 2022. The Dechert law firm’s March 28, 2022 press release about the report, which links to the full report,  can be found here.
Continue Reading Life Sciences Companies Remained Frequent Securities Litigation Targets in 2021

Just as the overall number of securities class action lawsuit filings declined in 2021 relative to the year prior (as discussed in detail here), the number of securities suits filed against non-U.S. companies declined in 2021 as well, although the number of suits against foreign companies as a percentage of all 2021 securities suit filings decreased only slightly, as reflected in a new report from the Dechert law firm. The February 24, 2022 report, entitled “2001 Developments in U.S. Securities Fraud Class Actions Against Non-Issuers,” can be found here.
Continue Reading Securities Suit Filings Against Non-U.S. Companies Declined in 2021

Jeff Lubitz
Louis Angelo Panis

As readers of this blog know, an important litigation phenomenon that followed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak has been the surge of COVID-19 related securities class action lawsuit filings. In this guest post, Jeff Lubitz, Managing Director, and Louis Angelo Panis, Research Analyst, ISS Securities Class Action Services, take a closer look at the coronavirus-related securities class action lawsuits filings and review the status of the cases that have been filed so far. Please note that the date reflected in the article is as of February 15, 2022. A version of this article previously was published as an ISS Securities Class Action Services client alert. 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: COVID-19 Update: Investor Related Class Actions