At the outset of the current U.S. Supreme Court term, corporate and securities law observers and commentators were excited that the Court had agreed to take up two securities law cases that had significant potential to provide insights about securities lawsuit pleading standards and processes. However, as noted here, in November, the court dismissed

The current Supreme Court term promised to be an interesting one from a securities law standpoint, as the Court had agreed to take up two cases dealing with key securities class action litigation issues. One of those cases is the securities case involving the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica’s user data scandal. The Facebook case would have required the Court to address an important and recurring disclosure related issue. However, on November 22, 2024, the Court issued a single-line order stating that “the writ of certiorari is dismissed as improvidently granted,” meaning that the Supreme Court’s consideration of the Facebook case will now not go forward, and the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in the case, in which the appellate court reversed in part the district court’s dismissal of the case, will now stand. A copy of the Supreme Court’s November 22, 2024, order can be found here.Continue Reading U.S. Supreme Court Dismisses Facebook Case, Saying Writ Improvidently Granted

Just days after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica securities case concerning risk factor disclosures (as discussed here), the Court has now agreed to take up yet another securities case, this time in a case involving Nvidia and involving the standards for pleading scienter and falsity under the PSLRA. The NVIDIA case involves alleged fraud in connection with the company’s disclosures concerning its sales of graphics processing units (GPU) to cryptocurrency companies as a component of its overall GPU sales. The specific questions the case presents to the Supreme Court concern what and how a plaintiff must plead when pleading scienter and falsity. Because the case involves the PSLRA’s “exacting pleading requirements,” the case potentially could prove to be very significant. A copy of the Court’s June 17, 2024 Order granting the petition for writ of certiorari can be found here.Continue Reading Supreme Court Agrees to Take Up Nvidia Securities Suit On Pleading Standards Issues

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case in which the court will be asked to address the recurring question of whether the failure to make disclosure required by Item 303 of Reg. S-K is an actionable omission under Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5. The Court apparently agreed to take up the case due to a split between the Circuits on the question of whether or not an Item 303 violation can be actionable. Because allegations based on alleged Item 303 violations are a frequent feature of securities class action complaints, the Court’s ruling in the case could potentially be significant. A copy of the Court’s September 29, 2023, order granting the petitioners’ petition for a writ of certiorari in the cases, Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation v. Moab Partners, L.P., can be found here.Continue Reading Supreme Court to Consider Whether Item 303 Violations are Actionable under Section 10(b)