After a brief lull during the second quarter, securities class action lawsuit filings during the third quarter were closer to historical norms, although the filings levels did drop again during September.
By my count, there were 49 new securities class action lawsuits during the third quarter. For reasons discussed below, my count could
Among the many firms and entitles struggling with the effect of the global economic downturn are a host of municipalities, many of whom face diminished tax revenues, unfunded pension and health care liabilities and aging infrastructure. A number of these municipalities also labor under a burden of debt undertaken when times were flush. Financial woes
In January 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court in the Stoneridge case followed its prior decision in Central Bank of Denver and held that there is no private right of action for "scheme liability" or aiding and abetting under the federal securities laws, ruling that Congress had reserved to the SEC the right to enforce aiding
After a year of heightened securities litigation activity during 2008, the number of securities lawsuit filings declined in the first-half of 2009, largely due to a drop in filings during the second quarter. In this latest issue of InSights (here), I take a detailed look at the 2009 securities lawsuit filings and explain
Finacial Downturn, Not Fraud, Caused Plaintiffs’ Losses: In a ruling that is interesting for what it says about the relevance of the overall economic downturn to the wave of subprime lawsuits, on August 20, 2009, Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge R. Barclay Surrick, Jr. granted the motion to dismiss the securities fraud lawsuit that Luminent
While we wait to see whether the U.S. Supreme Court will grant the pending petition for a writ of certiorari in connection with the Second Circuit’s recent landmark opinion in the Morrison v, National Australia Bank case, the lower courts must continue to wrestle with questions regarding the extraterritorial application of the U.S. securities laws
I hate to sound like a broken record a broken record, but as the third quarter securities lawsuit filings continue to come in, certain definite trends are clearly emerging. As I previously noted (here), the most recent filings are characterized by a high number of new lawsuits against companies outside the financial sector
My suggestion (here) that the apparent second quarter securities lawsuit filing lull was due in part to the fact that plaintiffs’ lawyers have a backlog of cases outside the financial sector has proven controversial. All I can say that there is an increasing amount of evidence consistent with the backlog hypothesis. Specifically, a
Another Subprime-Related Securities Lawsuit Dismissal: In yet another subprime-related securities class action lawsuit decision in defendants’ favor, on July 29, 2009, District of Connecticut Judge Stefan Underhill granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss in the securities lawsuit pending against CBRE Realty Finance and certain of its directors and officers. A copy of the opinion can
In a July 31, 2009 report , Advisen became the latest group to confirm that securities litigation declined in the second quarter of 2009, noting in its report entitled "Securities Litigation Drops in Q2 2009" (here) that securities lawsuit filings "fell off in the second quarter from the frantic first quarter." Advisen’s July