In a decision that largely turned on detailed confidential witness statements, on June 7, 2011, Northern District of Alabama Judge Inge Prytz Johnson denied the motions to dismiss in the Regions Financial Corporation subprime-related securities lawsuit. This ruling is the latest of a series of decisions involving the company. The June7 ruling can be found
Supreme Court Reverses Fifth Circuit in Halliburton Case; Proof of Loss Causation Not Required At Class Certification Stage
As many observers had expected, the U.S. Supreme Court has reversed the Fifth Circuit’s opinion in the Halliburton case. In a brief June 6, 2011 opinion from Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for a unanimous court, the Court held that securities class action lawsuit plaintiffs do not need to prove loss causation in order
The Latest Chinese Accounting Fraud Lawsuit and Other Net Threads
Yet another U.S.-traded Chinese-based company has been hit with an accounting fraud securities class action lawsuit. The latest lawsuit, involving Longtop Financial Technologies Limited, comes after a series of stunning announcements from the company earlier this week.
Longtop’s ADRs trade on the NYSE and until recently the company had a market cap in
Dealing with Multi-Jurisdiction M&A Litigation
One of the most distinctive trends in corporate and securities litigation in recent years has been the rise in litigation related mergers and acquisition activity. Cornerstone Research’s most recent year-end litigation filing study, released in conjunction with the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, documented that in M&A litigation in 2010 increased
So, There’s Concurrent State Court Jurisdiction for ’33 Act Suits, Right? Well…
On May 18, 2011, the California Intermediate Court of Appeals held in the Luther v. Countrywide Financial Corporation case that state courts have concurrent jurisdiction with federal courts to hear liability lawsuits under the Securities Act of 1933, and that more recent legislative enactments did not eliminate the concurrent state court jurisdiction for the plaintiffs&rsquo
Failed Bank-Related Securities Lawsuits: A Dismissal and A Settlement
One of the ways in which the current wave of bank failures is different from the failures during the S&L crisis is that this time around, by comparison to that prior period, a number of the bank closures have been accompanied by shareholder lawsuits brought against the former directors and officers of the failed institutions.
Second Circuit Holds Rating Agencies Cannot Be Held Liable as ’33 Act Underwriters
In a May 11, 2011 opinion (here), a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of rating agency defendants in litigation filed under the Securities Act of 1933 and involving mortgage-related securities issues by Lehman Brothers and IndyMac and the Residential Asset Securitization Trust (RUST). The Second Circuit affirmed the District Court’s
SEC Cracking Down on Non-U.S. Reverse Merger Companies
One of the most noteworthy stories over the past several months has been the flurry of accounting fraud allegations involving Chinese companies that obtained listings on U.S. securities exchanges through a reverse merger with a publicly traded domestic shell company. The emergence of these allegations has certainly been one of the securities class action litigation
Are Short Sellers Fabricating the Accounting Fraud Allegations Involving U.S.-Listed Chinese Firms?
The wave of new securities class action lawsuits involving accounting scandals at U.S-listed Chinese firms is already a well-established phenomenon. But in the latest twist on the tale, Deer Consumer Products, one of the U.S.-listed Chinese companies most recently sued based on allegations of accounting fraud, has gone on the warpath and is
Guest Post: Securities Fraud Class Certification — Supreme Court Oral Argument in the Halliburton Case
I am pleased to reprint below as a guest post a detailed article about the oral argument this past week before the United States Supreme Court in the case of Erica P. John Fund v. Halliburton Co., No. 09-1403. This guest post was submitted by my friend Kimberly M. Melvin. Kim is a partner in the Wiley