Mealey's Securities
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June 09, 2021
Approval Of $40M Settlement In Door Manufacturer Securities Class Action Sought
RICHMOND, Va. — Class representatives in a securities class action lawsuit against a window and door manufacturer asked a federal judge in Virginia on June 4 to preliminarily approve a $40 million settlement agreement reached by the parties, arguing that the proposed settlement meets all statutory requirements for approval.
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June 09, 2021
Dell, Others Ask High Court To Enforce Discovery Stay In State Court Securities Suit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a June 7 reply brief supporting their petition for certiorari, Dell Technologies Inc., a subsidiary and other parties that were sued for securities violations related to the subsidiary’s initial public offering (IPO) ask the U.S. Supreme Court to find that a discovery stay provision in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (Reform Act) applies to securities lawsuits filed in state courts and not just in federal courts, as California trial and appeals courts have found.
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June 04, 2021
High Court Review Of Ruling Upholding Insider Trading Conviction Sought
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A physician appealing a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming his conviction on securities fraud charges stemming from his alleged insider trading of securities recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether the appellate panel’s opinion was in line with Supreme Court precedent as to what constitutes fraudulent conduct under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
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June 04, 2021
CVS Securities Suit Dismissal Stands; Investors Denied Chance To Amend Complaint
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A federal judge in Rhode Island on May 25 denied a motion seeking partial reconsideration of her ruling dismissing shareholder claims in a securities class action lawsuit against CVS Health Corp. and certain of its current and former executive officers over alleged misrepresentations the defendants made regarding the financial condition of CVS Health’s long-term care (LTC) business, ruling that each of the reasons lead plaintiffs seek for reconsideration leads to “dead ends.”
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June 03, 2021
Investor Sues Aerospace Company Over SPAC-Related Financial Reporting Issues
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — An investor sued an integrated aerospace company and certain of its current and former senior executives in New York federal court on May 28, alleging that the defendants misrepresented the company’s business and financial condition in violation of federal securities laws after its formation in a business deal between its then-private predecessor and a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
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June 03, 2021
Investor Claims Significantly Trimmed In Carnival COVID-19 Securities Suit
MIAMI — A federal judge in Florida on May 28 granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss filed by cruise line operator Carnival Corp. and others, ruling that only some of the misrepresentations shareholders allege that the defendants made regarding their health and safety protocols in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic were actionable, while others were not.
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June 03, 2021
Plaintiffs Say Securities Class Action Complaint Shows False Statements Made
CAMDEN, N.J. — A motion to dismiss filed by a reinsurer and former officers in a securities class action pending in New Jersey federal court must be denied because the complaint adequately shows that the defendants made false and misleading statements when they failed to disclose adverse historical loss results, the plaintiffs contend in a May 24 supplemental brief in opposition to the motion to dismiss.
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May 27, 2021
9th Circuit’s Tesla Ruling Forms Basis For Reconsideration In Securities Lawsuit
PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal magistrate judge in Oregon on May 24 entered summary judgment on reconsideration for defendants in a securities class action lawsuit against an aviation parts manufacturing conglomerate and certain of its senior executives, ruling that although she found that the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) did not protect certain of the defendants’ alleged misstatements, in light of recent Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals precedent, her determinations were incorrect.
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May 27, 2021
Judge Again Extends Stay Of SEC’s Case Over Schemes To Defraud Insurers, Trusts
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on April 26 again granted an application by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking extension of a stay of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit alleging that two individuals “perpetrated multiple schemes to defraud their advisory clients, which were insurance companies and reinsurance trusts.”
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May 27, 2021
Drug Maker Named In Investor Suit Over Diabetes Drug Candidate Misstatements
TRENTON, N.J. — A biopharmaceutical company violated federal securities laws by publicly misrepresenting the likelihood that its Type 1 diabetes treatment drug would gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, which caused the company’s stock to trade at an artificially high rate until the alleged fraud was disclosed, a shareholder alleges in a complaint filed May 21 in New Jersey federal court.
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May 26, 2021
Securities Claim In Oracle Diversity Suit Dismissed For Lack Of Demand Futility
SAN FRANCISCO — Investors have failed to sufficiently plead demand futility in a shareholder derivative lawsuit alleging that several executive officers and members of computer infrastructure products and solutions provider Oracle Corp. violated federal securities by failing to hire and promote any African-Americans to the company’s board of directors even though the defendants publicly stated in a 2019 proxy statement that the company would actively seek to do so, a federal magistrate judge in California ruled May 24 in granting the defendants’ motion to dismiss.
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May 25, 2021
APAs Affirm Trustee’s Ability To Sell Life Insurance Policies In Their Entirety
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida on May 22 held that asset purchase agreements (APA) affirm rather than preclude a trustee's ability to sell policies retained by investors in their entirety, including those policies in which an investor has purchased fractional interests, further finding that a 2015 agreement between the trustee and an investor does not confer upon the investor the right to “last look” and does require liquidation of the trust's policies on a policy to policy basis, recommending that the trustee’s motion for an order of instructions be granted in a Securities Exchange Commission lawsuit alleging fraudulent selling of investment interests in life insurance policies.
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May 24, 2021
Shutterfly Proxy Statement For Merger Deal Was Accurate, Panel Rules
PHILADELPHIA — A federal district court in Delaware did not err in dismissing shareholder claims in a securities class action alleging that online photography and image sharing company Shutterfly Inc. and its former board of directors issued a false and misleading proxy statement as part of a merger deal in order to facilitate the company’s sale because the proxy statement was accurate and not misleading, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled May 21 in affirming.
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May 24, 2021
Investor Claims In Volkswagen Anticompetition Suit Dismissed As Insufficient
BROOKLYN, N.Y — Although shareholders have sufficiently shown that a federal district court has personal jurisdiction over their federal securities law class claims against German automaker Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft and certain of its current and former directors, the shareholders have failed to sufficiently state a claim for relief in alleging that the defendants violated federal securities laws by engaging in anticompetitive conduct with four other German automakers, a federal judge in New York ruled May 20.
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May 21, 2021
Lack Of Loss Causation Showing Dooms Investor Suit Against Uber On Appeal
ATLANTA — A federal district court did not err in dismissing a shareholder’s state securities law claim against technology startup Uber Technologies Inc. and its CEO with prejudice for failure to sufficiently plead loss causation because the shareholder failed to sufficiently show that the defendants’ alleged actions or omissions caused the company’s stock price to drop when revealed, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled on May 19.
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May 19, 2021
Judge: SEC Order Supports Securities Class Claims Against Under Armour
BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland on May 18 ruled that a Securities and Exchange Commission order instituting cease-and-desist proceedings against Under Armour Inc. and its former CEO for violating federal securities laws provides necessary support to investors in a related securities class action to allow their federal securities law claims against the clothing company over its alleged involvement in a channel-stuffing scheme to proceed.
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May 18, 2021
Dismissal Bid In COVID-19 Vaccine Pump-And-Dump Shareholder Lawsuit Denied
SAN FRANCISCO — Without providing further detail, a federal judge in California on May 13 denied motions to dismiss filed by defendants in a securities class action lawsuit and allowed lead plaintiffs to amend their complaint, in which they allege that a clinical-stage biotechnology company, a hedge fund and others engaged in a massive stock pump-and-dump scheme in violation of federal securities laws stemming from the defendants’ alleged misrepresentations that the company’s COVID-19 oral vaccine candidate had been chosen to take part in the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed (OWS) program.
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May 14, 2021
Magistrate Judge Recommends Grant Of Attorney Fee Awards In Securities Suit
MIAMI — A federal magistrate judge in Florida on May 12 issued a report recommending that a beauty products company and others be awarded more than $58,000 in appellate and supplemental trial attorney fees in a securities class action, ruling that the defendants are entitled to such fees and that the amount requested is reasonable.
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May 14, 2021
Investor Claims Against Cannabis Company Dismissed On Scienter Grounds
NEWARK, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey on May 6 ruled that although lead plaintiffs in a securities class action have sufficiently pleaded some actionable misrepresentations or omissions made by a Canadian cannabis distributor and several of its current and former executive officers regarding the company’s market expectations for its sale of recreational cannabis products, in pleading their federal securities law claims, the lead plaintiffs have failed to show that the defendants acted with a strong inference of scienter.
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May 13, 2021
Judge Grants Final Approval Of $640,000 Settlement In Securities Class Action
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on May 12 granted final approval of a $640,000 securities class action settlement between shareholders and a technology company and certain of its senior executives stemming from the defendants’ alleged concealment of a man’s status as beneficial owner of shares in the company’s affiliates in violation of federal securities laws.