One of the reasons there have not been as many cybersecurity-related securities lawsuits as some commentators (including me) expected is that the plaintiffs’ track record in the cases that have been filed has been decidedly mixed. To be sure, there have been some very noteworthy successes for the plaintiffs, including the Equifax cybersecurity-related securities suit, which settled for $149 million. But though there have been some noteworthy successes, many of the other cybersecurity related securities suits have ended in dismissal.
Among the more significant recent cybersecurity-related securities suit dismissals was the ruling in the securities lawsuit relating to the massive Marriott data breach. Now, on appeal, the Fourth Circuit has affirmed the district court’s dismissal in the Marriott case, the latest in a series of high-profile setbacks plaintiffs have experienced in cybersecurity-related securities suits. A copy of the Fourth Circuit’s April 21, 2022 opinion can be found here.
Continue Reading Fourth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Marriott Data Breach-Related Securities Suit
Consistent with what is already a well-established current securities class action litigation filing trend, plaintiff shareholders last week filed two more SPAC-related securities suits. Although the two new suits are somewhat different from each other, they share the common feature that they both involve corporate defendants that recently became publicly traded through merger with a SPAC. The SPAC-related lawsuits, including the two most recently filed examples, represent a significant securities litigation phenomenon this year. The two new lawsuits are discussed below.
Over the last several years and In the wake of the #MeToo movement, plaintiff shareholders have filed D&O claims against many companies, as well as against the companies’ executives, involving underlying allegations of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment. The highest profile of these cases to be filed within the last year was the securities class action lawsuit filed against Activision Blizzard and several of its officers based on allegations that the company knew about and failed to disclose governmental investigations of employees’ sexual harassment allegations. In a recent order, the court overseeing the securities suit granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint, holding that the plaintiffs had failed to sufficiently allege both falsity and scienter. The dismissal was granted without prejudice. The court’s ruling illustrates the difficulty plaintiffs sometimes face in trying to bootstrap underlying sexual misconduct allegations into D&O claims. The Court’s April 18, 2022 order in the case can be found 
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 
The hard part about maintaining a blog is finding interesting topics. It isn’t always easy coming up with things I want to write about. But when all else fails, I can always count on Elon Musk to come up with something. At regular intervals, Musk is out there saying and doing things that are not only interesting and provocative but that are solidly blogworthy. In the last few days, Musk has been at it again, not only making himself the largest shareholder of the social media company Twitter and thereby putting himself on the front pages of the business pages, but, as discussed below, drawing a securities class action lawsuit, as well.
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 
The pace of SPAC-related securities lawsuit filings recently has perceptibly increased. Earlier this week, I 
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 
As I have noted in prior posts on this site (most recently 
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