In a long-awaited ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2010 issued an opinion affirming dismissal of the Morrison v. National Australia Bank case. Among other things, the Court’s opinion will limit securities claims by investors who bought their shares on foreign exchanges. This ruling could have a dramatic impact on many pending cases as well
Ninth Circuit Reverses Apollo Group Securities Lawsuit Post-Trial Ruling, Reinstates $277.5 Jury Verdict
In a terse June 23, 2010 ruling (here), the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s post-trial ruling that set aside the $277.5 million jury verdict in the Apollo Group securities class action lawsuit, and remanded the case for "entry of judgment in accordance with the jury’s verdict."
Background
Apollo Group is the
Judge Rakoff Addresses Stanford Directors’ College
As opening speaker on June 21, 2010 at the Stanford Law School Directors’ college, Southern District of New York Judge Jed Rakoff shared his views about Bank of America’s settlement of the SEC enforcement action, including some thoughts about why he approved the revised $150 million settlement of the case after he rejected the prior $33 proposed
Supreme Court Grants Cert Petition in Matrixx Initiative Securities Suit
There was a time when it was relatively rare for the Supreme Court to take up securities cases. Until recently, the Court basically went several years between cases filed under the securities laws. Those days are clearly over, as the Court has granted cert petitions in several securities cases in recent years, including the Merck
Belated Securities Suit Survives Dismissal Motion
At least one prominent commentator has suggested that the reason for the accumulation during late 2009 of a significant number of belated securities suits, where the filing date came well after the proposed class period cut-off date, is that plaintiffs lawyers are "trying to fill the litigation pipeline by bringing older lawsuits that weren’t
Law Firm Memo Roundup
My weekend reading over the Memorial Day holiday included a hefty selection from the stack of law firm memos that accumulated in my inbox in recent weeks. Many of the most recent memos related to the Senate’s passage of its version of the financial reform legislation, but the memos also reflected a variety of other
Perspective on the Senate Financial Reform Bill
On May 20, 2010, the U.S. Senate passed the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (S. 3217) by a vote of 59 to 39. The Senate websites latest version of the Bill can be found here, and the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee’s link to the most current version can be
Who’s Getting Hit With Securities Suits These Days?
Though some observers have reported a downturn in 2010 securities class action lawsuits compared to prior years, at least very recently there has been a flurry of filing activity, with six new securities suits in the past week, by my count. With these latest filings coming in, it seemed worthwhile to take a look at the
NERA Releases Comprehensive Study of Australian Class Actions
As a result of series of legal developments, securities class action lawsuits in Australia have become have become increasingly common in recent years, and signs are that these trends will continue, according to a comprehensive study of Australian securities class action litigation issued on May 7, 2010 by NERA Economic Consulting.
The report can
Will the Financial Reform Bill Include An Aiding and Abetting Liability Provision?
The financial reform bill now working its way through Congress will include an amendment to the securities laws allowing private civil actions for aiding and abetting liability, if an amendment Senator Arlen Specter proposed on May 4, 2010 is part of the final bill. According to the Blog of the Legal Times (here)