As I have previously noted, the elevated number of securities class action lawsuits against life sciences companies was an important factor in the increase of securities lawsuit filings in 2017. The significant volume of securities suits involving life sciences companies has been the subject of focused analysis, as discussed here. Now the Sidley Austin law … Continue Reading
Between 1996 and 2016, the number of U.S. listed companies declined by about 50 percent. There are now fewer U.S. listed companies than there were in 1976. Some observers have raised the alarm about this decline. For example, SEC Chair Jay Clayton in a speech last summer called the decline in the number of U.S. … Continue Reading
As I have previously noted (for example here), a number of reports have analyzed the 2017 approved securities class action lawsuit settlements in statistical and numeric terms, such as the aggregate, average, and mean settlement amounts. But what do the 2017 securities suit settlements look like when broken down according to the lead plaintiffs’ firm … Continue Reading
As the use of third-party litigation funding has become more widespread, one issue that has been debated is whether or not the existence and details of a funding arrangement must be disclosed to the adversarial parties. As I have noted in prior posts, courts have struggled with the question of whether or not funding arrangements … Continue Reading
One of the changes Congress introduced in the Jumpstart our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012 was the creation of a new securities offering exemption for smaller companies. In March 2015, the SEC introduced rules implementing this provision, known as Regulation A+. The track record for Reg. A+ offerings has been mixed, as discussed further … Continue Reading
I am sure that when most people think about the kind of organization that might engage in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), they typically are thinking of a start-up venture — an enterprise trying to get off the ground. But there have been some high-profile cases of well-established companies trying to jump on board the … Continue Reading
The extraordinary levels of securities litigation filings during 2017 have been the subject of numerous commentaries, including on this blog. In a March 19, 2018 post on The CLS Blue Sky Blog, Columbia Law School Professor John Coffee adds his observations to the discussion about the 2017 securities suit filings. In his article, entitled “Securities … Continue Reading
For some time, observers (including me) have been discussing the extent to which the rising numbers of corporate data breaches would translate into to D&O litigation. There of course have been some data breach-related D&O lawsuits; indeed, plaintiffs’ lawyers have recently for the first time managed to secure some success with these kinds of suits … Continue Reading
In the following guest post, Britt K. Latham and Brian Irving of the Bass, Berry & Sims PLC law firm take a look at the SEC’s enforcement action track record under the Trump administration and take a look ahead at what may be next for the agency. I would like to thank Britt and Brian … Continue Reading
The newly disclosed $80 million settlement of the Yahoo data breach-related securities class action lawsuit will not make the list of the Top 100 securities suit settlements, but it is significant in its own way just the same. Because the settlement is the first substantial data breach-related shareholder lawsuit recovery, it represents a milestone development … Continue Reading
Prior observers have already noted that in 2017 the value of securities class action lawsuit settlements plunged to lows not seen in years, largely due to from a shortage of large or even moderate settlements. These observations about the lack of larger settlement are underscored by the latest large securities suit settlement report from ISS … Continue Reading
One of the most distinct phenomena at the peak of the Internet bubble in the late 90s was the way that so many otherwise entirely ordinary companies added “dot com” to their names to try to cash in on the frenzy. It now looks as if some companies are attempting moves from the same playbook … Continue Reading
This past year was an eventful one in the corporate and securities litigation arena. In the following guest post, Haynes and Boone, LLP Partners Dan Gold, Kit Addleman, Thad Behrens, Emily Westridge Black, Carrie Huff, Tim Newman, David Siegal, and Odean Volker take a look at the important securities litigation developments during 2017. This article … Continue Reading
As has been well-documented on this site, 2017 was an extraordinary year for securities class action lawsuit filings, with a record number of new lawsuits filed at a record rate. Among the important contributing factors to the significant volume of securities suit filings during the year was the volume of lawsuits filed against life sciences … Continue Reading
In the following guest post, Boris Feldman of the Wilson Sonsini law firm takes a look at important current developments in California shareholder litigation. Boris’s article previously was published as an AIG whitepaper. I would like to thank Boris and AIG for allowing me to publish this article as a guest post. I welcome guest … Continue Reading
For the second straight year, securities class action lawsuit filings reached record levels in 2017, according to the January 30, 2018 report from Cornerstone Research. According to the report, entitled “Securities Class Action Filings: 2017 Year in Review” (here), securities suit filings during the year reached “unprecedented levels” and companies on U.S. exchanges were more … Continue Reading
According to a January 29, 2018 report from NERA Economic Consulting, there was “an explosion” of U.S. federal court securities class action litigation filing in 2017, as new securities suits were filed at a “record pace.” The report, entitled “Record Trends in Securities Class Action Litigation: 2017 Full-Year Review,” can be found here. NERA’s January … Continue Reading
In the recent Advisen quarterly claims webinar, when asked to make a claim prediction for 2018, I said that I thought we would see more cryptocurrency-related regulatory action, enforcement action, and litigation this year. Some might say I was not really going out on a limb with this prediction. After all, earlier this week, Jay … Continue Reading
In his recent one-volume history of American capitalism, “Americana,” author Bhu Srivnivasan recounts the rise of many of the country’s large corporations in the late 19th century, including the long-standing U.S. industry stalwart, General Electric. GE was formed when Wall Street bankers engineered the merger of two fledgling electrical services providers, including the company formed … Continue Reading
As I have previously noted (most recently here), third-party litigation financing is an increasingly important part of the litigation scene in the U.S. and around the world. In a series of articles in December, Law 360 took a comprehensive overview of litigation funding in the U.S. As discussed below, the Law 360 series provides an … Continue Reading
The world of directors’ and officers’ liability is always dynamic, but 2017 was a particularly eventful year in the D&O liability arena. The year’s many developments have significant implications for what may lie ahead in 2018 – and possibly for years to come. I have set out below the Top Ten D&O stories of 2017, … Continue Reading
More securities class action lawsuits were filed in 2017 than in any year since 2001, in significant part because of the substantial number of federal court merger objection lawsuit filings during the year. But even disregarding the merger suits and looking only at the traditional securities lawsuits, the number of lawsuit filings was at the … Continue Reading
Even after the precipitous drop this past Friday in the price of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, the developments during the past several months involving cryptocurrencies have to be one of the year’s top business stories. While news articles about digital currencies focus on the dramatic rise this year in the price of Bitcoin or … Continue Reading
In the latest of what is beginning to look like a wave of ICO-related securities lawsuit filings, would-be investors who made pre-offering investments in Monkey Capital’s promised but uncompleted ICO have filed a securities class action lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida against the company and its principals, alleging that the company’s pre-offering sale … Continue Reading
