litigation trends

Subscribe to litigation trends via RSS

In a post late last week I noted the filing of the first coronavirus-related securities class action lawsuit, commenting at the time that though the lawsuit was the first, it was unlikely to be the last. I did not suspect that the next coronavirus-related securities suit would come quite so quickly – in fact, it appears that the second coronavirus-related suit might actually already been filed then. On March 12, 2020, an Inovio Pharmaceuticals shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against the company and its CEO based upon the CEO’s statements about the company’s development of a COVID-19 vaccine. A copy of the Inovio Pharmaceuticals complaint can be found here.
Continue Reading Pharma Company Hit with Securities Suit over COVID-19 Vaccine Claims

After I published a post last week suggesting that there could be D&O claims arising out of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, several people suggested to me that I was being alarmist and expressed deep skepticism about the possibility of coronavirus-related claims. After all, they said, there were no D&O claims filed in connection with the SARS, MERS or Ebola outbreaks. Well, there may well have been no D&O claims related to those prior outbreaks. However, it looks like in this context as in many others, the COVID-19 outbreak is going to be different. On March 12, 2020, a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd. alleging that the company was employing misleading sales tactics related to the outbreak. A copy of the plaintiff shareholder’s complaint can be found here.
Continue Reading Cruise Line Shareholder Files First Coronavirus-Related Securities Suit

As I have detailed in prior posts, U.S. securities class action lawsuit filings remained at historically high levels in 2019. Among the 2019 securities suit filings were significant number of lawsuits filed against non-U.S. companies with U.S. listings. As detailed in a new report from the Dechert law firm, there was an uptick in 2019 the number of U.S. securities lawsuits filed against non-U.S. companies compared with the year prior. The Dechert report also details a number of trends with respect to filings against non-U.S. companies, as well as the trends with respects to dispositive motions in these cases. The March 11, 2020 report can be found here.
Continue Reading Non-U.S. Companies with U.S Listings Continue to Face Significant U.S. Securities Suit Exposure

As previously reported (here), 2019 was a relatively slow year for securities class action lawsuit settlements compared to 2018. However, there were a number of significant securities lawsuit recoveries and the total recoveries in the aggregate were for at least some law firms quite substantial. In a March 11, 2020 report entitled “The Top 50 of 2019,” ISS Securities Class Action Services sets out a list of the top 50 law firms  — ranked by total cash amount and by number of cash settlements – with respect to final securities class action lawsuit settlements in 2019 in North America (inclusive of both the U.S. and Canada). ISS’s report can be found here.
Continue Reading ISS Ranks 2019 Top Plaintiffs’ Securities Class Action Firms

There were slightly fewer securities class action lawsuits and for fewer total dollars in 2019 compared to 2018, but the median settlement amount was unchanged in 2019 from the year prior, according to the annual securities suit settlement report from Cornerstone Research. The report, which is entitled “Securities Class Action Settlements: 2019 Review and Analysis,” states that the $11.5 million median securities class action settlement in 2019 was 34 percent higher than the 2010-2018 median. The report can be found here. Cornerstone Research’s February 26, 2020 press release about the report can be found here.
Continue Reading Total and Average Securities Settlements Down, Median Settlements Unchanged

As was the case for the last two reporting years, there were relatively few larger securities class action lawsuit settlements during 2019 compared to prior years. As reported in latest large securities class action lawsuit settlement report from ISS Securities Class Action Services (ISS), there were only two settlements finalized in 2019 large enough to make the list of all time large settlements. However, there are a number of pending tentative securities class action lawsuit settlements that are likely to be finalized in 2020, and thus are likely to lead to an increase in the number of Top 100 settlements during the year. The February 20, 2020 report, entitled “The Top 100 U.S. Class Action Settlements of All Time (as of December 31, 2019)” can be found here.
Continue Reading ISS Releases 2019 Top 100 Securities Class Action Lawsuit Settlements List

Over the last several years, plaintiffs’ lawyers have filed a number of D&O lawsuits against companies that had been hit with a cybersecurity incident. These suits have largely been unsuccessful, with the exception of the lawsuits filed against Yahoo in the wake of that company’s data breach. While the plaintiffs’ track record in data breach-related D&O lawsuits so far has not been good, a recent development could suggest that that has changed. On February 13, 2020, the parties to the Equifax data breach-related lawsuit filed a stipulation of settlement stating that the case has been settled based on the defendants’ agreement to pay $149 million. The settlement is subject to court approval. This settlement has a number of interesting implications, as discussed below. A copy of the parties’ stipulation of settlement can be found here.
Continue Reading Equifax Data Breach-Related Securities Suit Settled for $149 Million

In business meetings during my recent European visit, one topic that came up is the widespread liability risks arising out of the opioid crisis. One particular question I was asked was whether, in addition to everything else, the opioid crisis presented D&O risks. I was quick to refer to the various U.S. securities class action claims that have arisen (about which refer here) and to assure my hosts that there were indeed many other opioid-related D&O claims as well. Among the other opioid-related D&O claims is the shareholder derivative action that was filed against the board of McKesson Corp. As it turns out, the McKesson derivative suit recently settled, for an agreement to pay $175 million. As discussed below, this settlement, which is subject to court approval, and which is one of the largest derivative settlements ever, is to be funded entirely by D&O insurance.
Continue Reading McKesson Opioid-Related Derivative Suit Settles for $175 Million

In my recent year-end summary of corporate and securities liability trends (here), I identified privacy as an important area of growing area of corporate risk and specifically mentioned biometric privacy issues of particular concern. Almost as if to prove my point, on January 29, 2020, in its SEC filing on Form 10-K, Facebook announced that it had agreed to pay $550 million dollars to settle a biometric data privacy class action lawsuit that had been filed on behalf Illinois users in connection with the company’s use of facial recognition software.  According to plaintiffs’ lawyers involved in the case, the settlement represents the largest-ever cash settlement to resolve a privacy-related lawsuit. This massive settlement shows the significance of privacy issues and underscores the likelihood that privacy issues – particularly biometric privacy issues – are likely to be an important corporate liability battleground concern.
Continue Reading Facebook to Pay $550 Million in Largest-Ever Privacy Settlement

As I noted in my recent analysis of the 2019 securities class action litigation filings, one of the significant factors driving the near-historical levels of securities suit filings during the year was the elevated levels of securities litigation against life sciences companies. A January 21, 2020 report from the Dechert law firm, entitled “Dechert Survey: Developments in Securities Fraud Class Actions Against U.S. Life Sciences Companies: 2019 Edition” (here), details the 2019 securities lawsuit filings against life sciences companies, and reports that once again life sciences companies were “popular targets” for securities litigation claims.
Continue Reading A Closer Look at 2019 Securities Litigation against Life Sciences Companies