In Slack Technologies, LLC v. Pirani, No. 22-200, 2023 U.S. LEXIS 2301 (U.S. June 1, 2023), the Supreme Court of the United States (Gorsuch, J.) held that Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”), 15...more
In Ford v. TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 12008 (8th Cir. Apr. 23, 2021), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed a district court’s order certifying a class of customers who had...more
In Marchand v. Barnhill, No. 533, 2018, 2019 Del. LEXIS 310 (Del. June 18, 2019), the Delaware Supreme Court (Strine, C.J.) reversed a Delaware Court of Chancery (Slights, V.C.) order dismissing a derivative claim alleging...more
7/30/2019
/ Bad Faith ,
Blue Bell Creameries ,
Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Caremark claim ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Derivative Suit ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Food Safety ,
Listeria ,
Shareholder Litigation
n Singh v. Cigna Corp., No. 17-3484-cv, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 6637 (2d Cir. Mar. 5, 2019), the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a class action complaint that purported to base a...more
3/13/2019
/ Material Misstatements ,
Medicare ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Puffery ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Scienter ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Stock Drop Litigation
In Varjabedian v. Emulex Corp., No. 16-55088, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 10000 (9th Cir. Apr. 20, 2018), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit split from the Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh Circuits to...more
4/27/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Class Action ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dismissals ,
False Statements ,
Financial Adviser ,
Negligence ,
Pleading Standards ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Scienter ,
Section 17(a) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Litigation
In Resh v. China Agritech, No. 15-5543, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 9029 (9th Cir. May 24, 2017), a Ninth Circuit panel held that a pending putative class action in which class certification is ultimately denied tolls the statute of...more
In Nguyen v. Barrett, C.A. No. 11511-VCG, 2016 WL 5404095 (Del. Ch. Sept. 28, 2016) (Glasscock, V.C.), the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed an amended complaint seeking damages for alleged disclosure violations in...more
In two recent decisions, City of Miami General Employees’ & Sanitation Employees’ Retirement Trust v. Comstock, C.A. No. 9980-CB, 2016 Del. Ch. LEXIS 133 (Del. Ch. Aug. 24, 2016) (Bouchard, C.) (“Comstock”), and Larkin v....more
9/6/2016
/ Breach of Duty ,
Business Judgment Rule ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Damages ,
Fairness Standard ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Mergers ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Securities Litigation ,
Standard of Review
In In re Zagg Inc. Shareholder Derivative Action, No. 15-4001, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 11095 (10th Cir. June 20, 2016), the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that stockholders of a Utah-based, Nevada...more
7/5/2016
/ Board of Directors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Demand Futility ,
Derivative Suit ,
Dismissals ,
Exculpatory Clauses ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Personal Liability ,
Pleading Standards ,
Self-Interest ,
Shareholder Demands ,
Shareholder Litigation
In In re Appraisal of Dell Inc., No. 9322 VCL, 2016 Del. Ch. LEXIS 81 (Del. Ch. May 31, 2016) (Laster, V.C.), the Delaware Court of Chancery determined that the fair value of the common stock of Dell Inc. (“Dell” or the...more
6/10/2016
/ Appraisal ,
Appraisal Rights ,
Board of Directors ,
Common Stock ,
Delaware General Corporation Law ,
Dell ,
Fair Market Value ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Leveraged Buyout ,
Mergers ,
Voting Securities
In IBEW Local 98 Pension Fund v. Best Buy Co., Inc., No. 14-3178 (8th Cir. Apr. 12, 2016), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held, in a Rule 10b-5 securities fraud action, that the district court...more
5/9/2016
/ Best Buy ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Financial Markets ,
Fraud-on-the-Market ,
FRCP 23(b)(3) ,
Halliburton v Erica P. John Fund ,
Material Misstatements ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities Fraud ,
Stock Prices
The long saga of In re Tobacco Cases II recently produced yet another appellate opinion addressing California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), False Advertising Law (“FAL”), and the remedies they provide. This time, in In...more
In Pulaski & Middleman, LLC v. Google, Inc., No. 12-16752, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 16723 (9th Cir. Sept. 21, 2015), a Ninth Circuit panel held that individualized damages (or restitution) calculations cannot alone defeat Rule...more
10/2/2015
/ Advertising ,
AdWords ,
Appeals ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Class Action ,
Damages ,
False Advertising ,
FRCP 23(b)(3) ,
Google ,
Predominance Requirement ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Restitution ,
Unfair Competition
A ruling last fall by the Delaware Chancery Court has prompted a wave of 8 Del. C. § 220 books and records inspection demands on (and threatened litigation against) Delaware corporations that have entered into credit...more
6/11/2015
/ Board of Directors ,
Books & Records ,
Change in Control ,
Credit Agreements ,
Debt Financing ,
Debt Securities ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Lenders ,
Proxy Put ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
In the consolidated appeal In re Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc., Stockholder Litigation and In re Zhongpin Stockholders Litigation, Nos. 564, 2014 and 706, 2014, 2015 Del. LEXIS 231 (Del. May 14, 2015), the Delaware Supreme...more
In Oneok, Inc. v. Learjet, Inc., No. 13-271 (April 21, 2015), the U.S. Supreme Court held in a 7-2 opinion that state law antitrust claims against defendant natural gas pipeline companies did not fall within the field of...more
In Jordan v. Nationstar Mortgage LLC, No. 14-35943 and 15-35113, 2015 WL 1447217 (Apr. 1, 2015 9th Cir.), a Ninth Circuit panel held that cases subject to the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”) become “removable” only when...more
In Roach v. T.L. Cannon Corp., No. 13-3070-cv, 2015 WL 528125 (2d Cir. Feb. 10, 2015), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 133 S. Ct. 1426 (2013), does not require district courts to first...more
2/27/2015
The Delaware Supreme Court reversed the Chancery Court’s decision that it lacked authority to impose the requested use restriction, noting that Section 220(c) authorizes the Chancery Court in the exercise of discretion to...more
In Romulus v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc., No. 14-1937, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 20548 (1st Cir. Oct. 24, 2014), the First Circuit Court of Appeals clarified the conditions triggering a defendant’s 30-day window to remove a case to...more
In Bricklayers & Trowel Trades Int’l Pension Fund v. Credit Suisse Sec. (USA) LLC, No. 12-1750, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 8994 (1st Cir. May 14, 2014), the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed a district...more
In re Kosmos Energy Ltd. Securities Litigation, No. 3:12-CV-373-B, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36365 (N.D. Tex. Mar. 19, 2014), the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Boyle, J.) denied lead plaintiff’s...more
In consumer class actions, the damages measure tends to remain undisclosed or ill-defined when plaintiffs move for class certification. Revealing as little as possible about damages allows plaintiffs to more flexibly adapt to...more
In Berger v. Home Depot USA, Inc., Case No. 11-55592, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 2059 (9th Cir. Feb. 3, 2014), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of class certification based largely on evidence that the...more
The U.S. Supreme Court addressed contract terms bearing on the availability of class arbitration in two opinions this term. The first, Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, confirms a district court’s limited power under the...more