On November 10, 2008, NERA Economic Consulting released a report entitled "SEC Settlements: A New Era Post-Sox" (here) that details trends in the number of SEC settlements and of SEC settlement values in the six years since the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
The Report has a number of interesting findings, including
One of the more distressing side effects of the recent dramatic events in the global financial markets has been the sudden and unexpected reversal of fortune on any number of financial transactions and positions, particularly with respect to commodities and currencies. These developments have proven to be particularly troublesome for market participants that sought to
With the sentencing of the last two defendants in the criminal investigation of the Milberg law firm and several of its former partners, it may be time to ask what the impact has been on the plaintiffs’ securities bar and what the future may be for securities litigation. There are also interesting questions about what
At first glance, poultry producer and processor Pilgrim’s Pride and shopping center REIT General Growth Properties would seem to have little in common. But while they may be in different business sectors they share a remarkable number of common woes.
Both are laboring under crushing debt obligations associated with recent acquisitions, and both face
Do private securities lawsuits play an important role in deterring fraud and compensating defrauded investors, or are they simply wasteful and ineffective? These were the questions that on October 23, 2008 Stanford Law School Professor Joseph Grundfest and Duke Law School Professor James Cox debated in New York at the Forum for Institutional Investors sponsored
On October 23, 2008, in a much-anticipated decision addressing what it called "the vexing question of the extraterritorial application of the securities laws," the Second Circuit in the National Australia Bank (NAB) case ruled (here) that U.S. courts lack subject matter jurisdiction over the claims of foreign claimants in that case who bought
One feature of the current financial turmoil is that the government has taken or will take control of or ownership positions in a number of business organizations. The phenomenon of government ownership of a private enterprise potentially could present any number of conflicts and challenges. Among other problems that may arise is the question of
When, as has been the case recently, there is a single predominant story, there also is a danger that other important developments may be overlooked. The subprime and credit crisis meltdown and related litigation has been so preoccupying that almost nothing else has broken through the noise.
However, a recent casual observation made me
The full consequences of the dramatic recent events in the financial markets may take years to emerge, but one direct effect has already appeared – the collapse of several large financial institutions has turned preferred shareholders into securities class action plaintiffs.
Historically, securities class action lawsuits have been pursued on behalf of common shareholders
Allegations that the defendant companies and their senior managers failed to disclose the hazards associated with the company’s risky investments. Allegations that management failed to account for losses on high risk investments in a timely or complete manner. Allegations that company management minimized the deteriorating values of high risk investments in piecemeal damage control statements