As I have previously noted (most recently here), something of an anti-ESG backlash has started to take shape, at least in certain quarters. Legislatures in several states have passed legislation prohibiting state pension funds from investing in ESG- focused investments or prohibiting the state from doing business with companies that boycott certain industries. The backlash has also taken the form of litigation, as, for example, with respect to the lawsuit recently filed against Starbucks board pertaining to the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative (DEI).
As Alison Frankel discusses in an October 26, 2022 post on her On the Case blog (here), and in the latest manifestation of this kind of anti-ESG litigation, a nonprofit group has filed an action against the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer based on the company’s sponsorship of a foundation offering fellowships aimed at Black, Latino, Native American and other minority candidates. This latest lawsuit is yet another indication that the companies that get caught up in ESG litigation may the companies taking ESG initiatives, perhaps more so that ESG laggards.
Continue Reading Suits Targeting Firms Seeking to Boost Minorities Highlight ESG Risks
As I have previously noted, plaintiffs’ lawyers have over the last several months filed a plethora of securities class action lawsuit against companies that became publicly traded through a merger with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). Since these cases have only just been filed, few of the cases have yet reached the initial pleading hurdles. However, in a ruling last week, Central District of California Judge 
The payment technology firm Block, Inc. (formerly known as Square) has been hit with a securities class action lawsuit related to the company’s announcement earlier this year that a former employee had improperly accessed and downloaded company customer data. The new lawsuit is the latest example of the ways in which data security incidents can translate into D&O claims. The complaint, filed on October 11, 2022, can be found 
In the latest lawsuit to emerge in the aftermath of the recent SPAC frenzy, a plaintiff shareholder has filed a securities class action suit against Opendoor Technologies, a residential real estate digital platform, which merged into a publicly traded SPAC in December 2020. The SPAC involved was one of the many financial vehicles launched by the so-called “
Readers of this blog know that in recent years, plaintiffs’ lawyers have filed a number of D&O lawsuits against companies that experience cybersecurity-related incidents. Overall, the plaintiffs’ track record on these cases is at best mixed, and a number of high-profile cases have been dismissed. In the latest example of the dismissal of a cybersecurity-related securities suit, the court in the Capital One Financial Corporation data breach-related securities class action lawsuit has granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss. The September 13, 2022 dismissal order in the case can be found 
As I have noted in numerous posts on this site, since the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, plaintiffs’ lawyers have filed a host of coronavirus-related securities class action lawsuits. As I also noted, the plaintiffs’ track record in these cases has been mixed at best, with a number of the cases being dismissed. In the latest example of the hurdles the plaintiffs are facing in these cases, a federal court has entered an order dismissing the COVID-19 related securities suit that was filed against the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca relating to the company’s troubled efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. A copy of the September 12, 2022 opinion in the case can be found 
In the midst of its battles with Elon Musk over Musk’s attempt to walk away from his proposed takeover of the company, Twitter was rocked by the 
In my recently published 
In the latest SPAC-related federal court securities class action lawsuit to be filed, a plaintiff shareholder has filed a securities suit against a building management technology company – which merged with a SPAC in 2021 — that recently restated its financial statements for the reporting periods after the company became publicly traded. The complaint in the new lawsuit filed against Latch, Inc. can be found