Mealey's Securities
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January 14, 2022
Workplace Harassment Claims Do Not Amount To Securities Fraud, Company Argues
LOS ANGELES — Dismissal of federal securities law claims in a shareholder class action against video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. and certain of its current and former senior executives stemming from their alleged concealment of workplace discrimination at the company is necessary because shareholders have failed to sufficiently plead any actionable misstatements or omissions or scienter in pleading their federal securities law claims, the defendants argue in a Jan. 11 motion to dismiss filed in California federal court.
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January 14, 2022
$12.75M Securities Settlement Against Cancer Drug Maker Gains Initial Approval
SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California on Jan. 11 granted preliminary approval of a $12.75 million settlement in a class action against a pharmaceutical company and certain of its senior executives on claims that they misrepresented adverse clinical trial results for the company’s metastatic breast cancer (MBC) treatment candidate in violation of federal securities laws, ruling that the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate.
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January 14, 2022
Investors: Company’s False Statements About Fracking Deal Broke Securities Law
PITTSBURGH — Investors sued a hydraulic fracturing company and its officers in Pennsylvania federal court on Dec. 28, contending that they violated securities laws when they issued materially false statements pertaining to a plan to acquire a rival company.
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January 13, 2022
Health Insurer Named In Shareholder Suit Over Alleged COVID-19 Misstatements
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A health insurance provider and certain of its current and former executive officers and directors misrepresented the company’s ability to withstand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in offering documents for the company’s initial public offering and in public statements throughout the class period in violation of federal securities law, a shareholder alleges in a securities class action filed Jan. 6 in New York federal court.
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January 13, 2022
Parties Debate Mandate Rule’s Effect On Disgorgement Claims In SEC Action
DALLAS — In Jan. 11 supplemental briefing, parties in a Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action stemming from an alleged investment scheme involving the sale of unregistered offerings of oil and gas limited partnership interests asked a federal judge in Texas to determine whether the mandate rule limits the court’s ability to consider arguments the parties made in briefing on the SEC’s renewed motion for remedies.
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January 12, 2022
Panel: Investor’s Scienter Allegations Missed The Mark In Stock-Drop Suit
NEW YORK — A federal district court did not err in dismissing lead plaintiffs’ second amended complaint against a generic drug maker and certain of its current and former senior executives alleging that the defendants failed to disclose supply chain issues with its primary supplier in violation of federal securities laws because the lead plaintiff failed to sufficiently plead scienter in stating his claims, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Jan. 11, affirming.
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January 12, 2022
Split 7th Circuit Panel: Boeing Forum Bylaw Not In Line With Delaware Law
CHICAGO — In a 2-1 decision, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 7 ruled that a federal district court erred in dismissing a shareholder derivative lawsuit against 26 current and former executive officers and directors of Boeing Co. on the basis of forum non conveniens because a Boeing bylaw requiring derivative lawsuits against the company to be brought in Delaware state court runs afoul of Delaware corporation law.
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January 11, 2022
Shareholder Appeal In Freddie Mac Stock-Drop Suit Allowed To Proceed
CINCINNATI — In a divided opinion, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 6 declined to dismiss an appeal of an adverse class action ruling in a securities class action lawsuit against Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac) over its failure to disclose its exposure to the subprime mortgage lending crisis, ruling that a federal district court’s sua sponte grant of summary judgment in favor of Freddie Mac and others did not amount to “manufactured finality” that is prohibited by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Microsoft Corp. v. Baker.
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January 11, 2022
11th Circuit Dismisses Investor’s Appeal In SEC Suit For Lack Of Jurisdiction
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 6 dismissed an investor’s appeal of a lower federal court’s ruling that asset purchase agreements (APAs) affirm rather than preclude a trustee's ability to sell life insurance policies retained by investors, finding that it lacks jurisdiction because the order that is being appealed is not a “final decision” and did not involve the refusal “to wind up [a] receivership.”
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January 11, 2022
Securities Class, J&J Face 3rd Circuit On Asbestos-Talc Disclosures Under ERISA
NEWARK, N.J. — A class of investors seeking to hold Johnson & Johnson responsible for allegedly breaching Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary duty by not issuing corrective disclosures announcing its knowledge that asbestos contaminated its talc products will go up against the company’s claim that the appeal is a “quixotic attempt” to change the strict standard requiring a showing of potential alternative conduct that would not have done more harm than good when the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals hears oral arguments on Jan. 20.
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January 07, 2022
COMMENTARY: Key U.S. Insurance Decisions, Trends, & Developments: ESG, Social Inflation, COVID-19, Cyber/Privacy, Civil Unrest, Opioids, Lead, Sexual Assault & Other Perils Figure Prominently
By Scott M. Seaman and Sarah Anderson
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January 07, 2022
Judge Refuses To Dismiss Declaratory Judgment Claims Against Excess D&O Insurer
WILMINGTON, Del.— A Delaware judge on Jan. 3 denied an excess insurer’s motion to dismiss declaratory judgment claims in a directors and officers liability coverage dispute but dismissed a breach of contract claim, finding that the insured failed to plead that the excess insurer breached any present coverage duties.
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January 07, 2022
DocuSign Alleged To Have Concealed Pandemic’s Effect On Its Business Condition
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A shareholder sued software company DocuSign Inc. and certain of its current and former senior executives on Dec. 22 in New York federal court, alleging that the defendants misrepresented the impact the COVID-19 pandemic was having on the company’s business and financial condition in violation of federal securities law.
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January 07, 2022
Online Education Support Provider Sued Over Revenue Growth Misstatements
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California-based online purveyor of academic support services and several of its senior executives materially misled investors in violation of federal securities laws by failing to disclose that the company’s revenue growth was a temporary benefit of nationwide remote learning in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic and would not last, a shareholder argues in a Dec. 22 complaint filed in California federal court.
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January 05, 2022
Investor Suit Over Alleged Parkinson’s Disease Drug Misstatements Dismissed
SAN DIEGO — Ruling that the lead plaintiff in a securities class action against a drug company and several of its current and former senior executives has three times failed to sufficiently plead an actionable misstatement or omission in alleging that the defendants failed to disclose the extent of severe adverse results in patients treated with the company’s Parkinson’s disease psychosis (PD psychosis) treatment drug or its alleged involvement in an illegal kickback scheme, a federal judge in California on Jan. 3 denied the lead plaintiff a fourth attempt to do so.
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January 05, 2022
Denying Rehearing, 2nd Circuit Lets Securities Fraud Conviction Reinstatements Stand
NEW YORK — Letting stand its ruling that vacated both a grant of new trials and a judgment of acquittal by a New York federal court, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 29 denied petitions for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc from two former hedge fund executives convicted of charges including securities fraud in an alleged scheme that involved a reinsurer and related entities.
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January 04, 2022
Sparse Scienter Allegations Doom Investor Claims Against Marijuana Grower
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Lead plaintiffs in a securities class action against a medical marijuana grower and others have failed to amend their pleadings to allow them to sufficiently plead scienter in alleging that the defendants misrepresented the quality of their growing facilities and failed to disclose related-party transactions in violation of federal securities laws, a federal judge in Florida ruled Dec. 30 in dismissing the lead plaintiffs’ second amended complaint with prejudice.
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January 04, 2022
Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes Guilty On 4 Fraud Counts, Not Guilty On 4 Others
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal jury on Jan. 3 found that Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes is guilty of four counts of wire fraud and not guilty of four other counts and left unanswered questions on three remaining counts that she misled investors and patients about blood testing technology that provided unreliable results to patients or didn’t work at all.
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December 28, 2021
Investor: Company Violated Securities Laws In Promoting Fracking In Africa
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A shareholder in an oil and gas exploration company on Dec. 13 sued the company and its officers in New York federal court contending that they violated federal securities laws when they issued false and misleading statements that caused him and other investors to purchase stock at artificially inflated prices.
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December 23, 2021
Facebook Escapes Investor Class Action Over Cambridge Analytica Data Breach
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Lead plaintiffs in a securities class action against social media networking website Facebook Inc. and three of its senior executives have once again failed to cure pleading deficiencies in alleging that the defendants violated federal securities laws by misrepresenting company’s privacy and data protection practices, a federal judge in California ruled Dec. 20 in dismissing the action with prejudice.