It was over a year ago – March 11, 2020, to be exact – that the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak to be a pandemic. And it was also over a year ago – March 12, 2020, in fact – that the first of the coronavirus outbreak-related securities class action lawsuits were filed. Since that time, more than two dozen other coronavirus-related securities suits have also been filed. But while the pandemic related litigation has been an interesting phenomenon, a year into the development there are some interesting questions about the litigation. Such as, for example, why hasn’t there been more securities litigation related to the pandemic? In this post, I take a look at the litigation (so far) and try to answer a few of the questions.
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Electric Engine Technology Company Hit with Post De-SPAC Merger Securities Suit
In the latest example of a company that recently merged into a publicly traded SPAC getting hit with a post de-SPAC transaction securities suit, electric vehicle technology company XL Fleet Corp. has sustained a securities class action lawsuit that names as defendants both directors and officers of the post-merger operating company and a former officer of the SPAC. As discussed below, the new lawsuit shares several features in common with many of the recent SPAC-related lawsuit filings. A copy of the March 8, 2021 lawsuit can be found here.
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Coronavirus-Related Securities Suit Against Royal Caribbean Voluntarily Dismissed
As the lawsuits have been coming in, we have been tracking the coronavirus outbreak-related litigation, with more than two dozen securities suits accounted for so far. But while the plaintiffs’ lawyers have proven willing to pursue pandemic-related securities suits, the track record so far for these kinds of suits has been decidedly mixed. In the latest sign of the mixed bag of results for plaintiffs’ lawyers on these kinds of suits, on February 25, 2021, the plaintiffs’ lawyers who initiated the coronavirus outbreak-related securities suit against Royal Caribbean Cruises entered a voluntary dismissal without prejudice with the court (here). As discussed below, this development may have significance for other potential cases as well as for cases that have already been filed.
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U.S. Securities Suit Filings Against Non-U.S. Companies Increased in 2020
One of the interesting things about the 2020 securities class action lawsuit filing numbers is that even though the overall number of securities suit filings went down in 2020, the number of securities class action lawsuits filed against non-U.S. companies actually increased during the year. The 2020 securities suit filings against non-U.S. companies are reviewed in detail in a new report from the Dechert law firm entitled “2020 Developments in U.S. Securities Fraud Class Actions Against Non-U.S. Issuers.” The March 8, 2021 report can be found here.
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OPKO Health Hit with Board Diversity Lawsuit
Regular readers will recall that last summer and fall there was a series of lawsuits filed against the directors of several publicly traded companies that had no African Americans on their boards. For a time, it seemed as if this litigation outbreak had subsided, as no further lawsuits were filed after the end of September. However, the impression that this phenomenon had played itself out was dispelled in February, when a plaintiff shareholder filed yet another board diversity lawsuit against the directors of Micron Technology. Now, in the latest sign that the board diversity litigation movement may have even further to run, on March 5, 2020, a plaintiff shareholder filed yet another board diversity lawsuit, this time against Florida-based healthcare company, OPKO Health, Inc. The lawsuit against OPKO Health’s board can be found here.
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ISS Releases 2020 Top 100 Securities Class Action Lawsuit Settlements List
According to the latest annual report from ISS Securities Class Action Services, there were four securities class action settlements in 2020 that were large enough to make the firm’s list of the Top 100 U.S. Securities Class Action settlements. These four settlements took place in a year in which there were a total of 99 approved monetary securities class action settlements totaling $3.26 billion The details of the settlements included the four largest can be found in the ISS SCAS report entitled “The Top 100 U.S. Class Action Settlements of All-Time,” here.
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Electric Car Technology Company Hit with Post-deSPAC Securities Lawsuit
Regular readers know that I have been tracking new securities class action lawsuits filed related to SPACs and SPAC transactions. In the latest of these suits — a securities class action lawsuit filed against a company that was acquired by a SPAC in September 2020 — a plaintiff shareholder has filed a securities suit against the company relating to post-transaction board actions taken against senior company officials. The complaint in the securities class action lawsuit filed on March 2, 2021 against Velodyne Lydar, Inc. can be found here. Also, please note the further discussion below relating to yet another recent SPAC-related securities lawsuit, as well.
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Insurance Services Firm, SPAC Sponsor, and SPAC Execs Hit with Post-deSPAC Securities Suit
Regular readers know that I have been documenting on this blog the recent rise in securities class action lawsuit filings relating to SPAC entities and transactions (most recently here). Along the way, I have suggested that given the sheer amount of SPAC IPO activity during 2020 and 2021, the volume of this type of litigation is likely to increase. The latest evidence supporting this possibility is the securities class action lawsuit filed on February 24, 2021 against MultiPlan Corporation, a health services company that in October 2020 merged into a SPAC. As discussed below, this latest lawsuit has several features that could be recur in future SPAC-related securities lawsuits. A copy of the February 24, 2021 complaint against MultiPlan and other defendants can be found here.
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Post-SPAC Acquired Biopharma Firm Hit with Securities Suit
In the latest SPAC-related securities class action lawsuit, a plaintiff shareholder has filed a securities class action lawsuit against a post-SPAC-acquisition biopharma company in which the plaintiff claims that the risk of the company’s post-merger clinical trial setback should have been unearthed in the pre-merger due diligence process. As discussed below, this lawsuit may prefigure some of the likely patterns for future SPAC-related securities litigation.
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Dismissal Motion Largely Denied in COVID-19-Related Securities Suit Against Vaccine Company
As I have detailed in a series of post on this blog (most recently here), over the last year plaintiffs’ lawyers have filed nearly 30 COVID-19-related securities class action lawsuits. While the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ have been quick to file these cases, it remains to be seen how the claims will fare. Indeed, in January, in the first case to reach initial pleading hurdles, the Court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss (as discussed here). However, in a more recent ruling one of the first of the COVID-19-related securities suits to be filed, the Court has denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss in significant part. The February 16, 2021 opinion of Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Gerald J. Pappert in the securities lawsuit pending against Inovio Pharmaceuticals can be found here.
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