On July 28, 2010, Cornerstone Research and the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse issued the most recent entry in the series of mid-year 2010 securities class action litigation studies. Its report, entitled "Securities Class Action Litigation: 2010 Mid-Year Assessment" can be found here. The related July 28 press release can be found
Morrison Precludes F-Squared Cases, Too, Court Concludes
The Supreme Court’s decision last month in the Morrison v. National Australia Bank precludes so-called "f-cubed" claims (claims brought by foreign plaintiffs who bought foreign stock on a foreign exchange). An unanswered question is whether Morrison also precludes "f-squared" claims – that is, claims by Americans who bought their shares of foreign companies on foreign
NERA Releases Mid-Year 2010 Securities Litigation Study
Largely as a result in the decline of the number of new credit crisis related cases, the number of new securities class action lawsuits filings is "on track to decline for a second successive year from their 2008 peak," according to a NERA Economic Consulting report entitled "Trends 2010 Mid-Year Study: Filings Decline as the
Are Securities Class Action Opt-Outs Back?
A couple of years ago, a "worrisome trend" developed in securities class action litigation, in which large institutional investors began routinely opting out of plaintiff class to separately pursue their own individual claims under the securities laws. The settlement of these individual opt out actions in many cases rivaled, in the aggregate, the amount of
O.K., F-Cubed Claims Are Out, But What About F-Squared Claims?
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month in the Morrison v. National Australia Bank case made it clear U.S. securities laws do not allow so-called "f-cubed" cases — securities claims against foreign domiciled companies and brought by foreign-domiciled claimants who purchased their company shares on foreign exchanges — in U.S. courts. The securities laws, the
There’s Just One Little Problem About That $725 Million AIG Securities Suit Settlement
When Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray announced this past Friday that he had entered a massive $725 million settlement on behalf of three Ohio pension funds in the long standing securities class action lawsuit against AIG, he definitely accomplished his objective –his announcement made the front pages of all the newspapers in Ohio (it was
A Closer Look at the Goldman Sachs SEC Enforcement Action Settlement
In a striking series of developments late yesterday afternoon, the Senate passed the financial reform bill and the SEC announced its record-setting settlement of the enforcement action it filed against Goldman Sachs last April. The Goldman settlement drew extensive coverage in the mainstream media, primarily focused on the sheer size of the $550 million
Advisen Releases Second Quarter Securities Litigation Analysis
Overall levels of corporate and securities litigation increased during the second quarter of 2010, according to a new study released on July 15, 2010 by the insurance information firm Advisen. A copy of the report can be found here.
Preliminary Notes
The litigation analyzed in the Advisen report includes not only securities class
Law Firm Memo Round-Up
Corporate Scienter: One of the recurring issues in securities litigation is the question of what is required to establish that the corporate defendant acted with scienter. The question was squarely presented by the Vivendi trial verdict, where, as discussed here, the jury found that the corporation was liable, even though the two individual defendants
Securities Litigation Web Notes and Updates
Suit Against Auction Rate Securities Investor Dismissed: When plaintiff investors first sued Mind M.T.I. and certain of its directors and officers in the Southern District of New York in August 2009, I noted at the time that the new suit seemed to reflect two securities class action lawsuit filing trends: first, the case presented an