As 2021 came to a close, the final tally of new U.S. shareholder class action complaints declined for the second straight year (this followed a record number of new cases from 2017 – 2019). Industry experts point to three factors
Litigation
Davis Polk Discusses Second Circuit Reversal of LIBOR-Based Fraud Convictions
On January 27, 2022, the Second Circuit reversed the wire fraud convictions of two traders for their purported roles in the London Interbank Offered Rates (LIBOR) manipulation scandal, which previously resulted in a number of resolutions by banks. In United …
ISS Discusses $4 Billion in Settlements Expected to Kick-Off 2022
Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses Dashed Efforts to Make New York a Hub for Non-U.S. Derivative Litigation
In the last week of December, the Commercial Division of the New York Supreme Court dismissed two shareholder derivative actions brought against directors and officers of large European companies in decisions with critical implications for non-U.S. companies’ exposure to fiduciary …
ISS Discusses Shareholder Class Action Settlements in 2021
ISS Discusses the Challenges of Litigating Class Actions in the UK
Although the United States inherited its common law legal system from the United Kingdom, the U.S. securities class actions jurisprudence is well advanced of the development of this area of law in the United Kingdom. With the first major collective …
Jack Weinstein: Last of the Mohicans?
This is a speech that Professor Coffee is scheduled to deliver today as part of a webinar program that will pay tribute to Judge Jack Weinstein and will be presented jointly by Columbia Law School and the Institute of Judicial …
ISS Discusses Landmark Ruling in China’s First Shareholder Class Action
Paul Weiss Discusses Federal Jury Verdict Finding Cryptocurrency Products Not Securities
On November 2, 2021, a federal jury in Audet v. Fraser found that four cryptocurrency-related products were not securities under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Connecticut Uniform Securities Act. This case is significant because it appears to …
The Supreme Court and the Fraud on the Market Class Action
The class action is indispensable to private enforcement of SEC Rule 10b-5, which prohibits fraudulent practices in the secondary securities market. Though Rule 10b-5 is a criminal provision, courts have long inferred a private civil right of action, allowing defrauded …
ISS Discusses Why the Enron Scandal Still Matters to Investors After 20 Years
In what is still regarded as the largest U.S. corporate fraud in history, the Enron scandal “celebrates” its 20th anniversary this month.
It was October 16, 2001 when Enron announced a $638 million third quarter loss, confirming a handful of …
Top Justice Department Official on Stepping Up Corporate Enforcement
I think these events [the Global Investigations Review conference: New York] are an important opportunity for discussion of trends and really this area is one where your work, your advice to clients, changes the way that people behave. And it …
Wachtell Lipton Discusses Delaware Supreme Court’s New Demand Futility Test
In what promises to be a landmark decision, the Delaware Supreme Court last week reframed the rules governing derivative litigation. United Food & Commercial Workers Union v. Zuckerberg, No. 404, 2020 (Del. Sept. 23, 2021).
A Facebook stockholder …
Gibson Dunn Offers 2021 Mid-Year Securities Litigation Update
The torrid pace of new securities class action filings over the last several years slowed a bit in the first half of 2021, a period in which there have been many notable developments in securities law. This mid-year update briefs …
Consumer Protection Settlements: Theory and Policy Issues
In a new paper, I compare private and public class action settlements. I find a dearth of theoretical law and economics literature on public class actions, so I use the private class actions literature and a pivotal case study to …
Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses Expanded Horizons for Class Action Litigation in the UK
Mass claimant litigation is on the rise in the English courts, with multinational companies in particular facing ever-growing exposure. While large class action suits are relatively common in jurisdictions such as the United States and Australia, until recently these actions …
ISS Discusses the Largest U.S. Securities Class-Action Settlements by State
Since its inception, ISS Securities Class Action Services LLC (“ISS SCAS”) has tracked more than 13,000 shareholder class actions across the world, including 12,000+ cases within the United States. In this report, ISS SCAS closely examines the largest securities class …
ISS Discusses Increase in Class Action Settlements for First Half of 2021
As the U.S. and countries around the globe attempt to control the Coronavirus pandemic, investors continue to experience meaningful recoveries from securities-related class action settlements.
In the first half of 2021 (January 1 – June 30), U.S. class action settlements …
Wachtell Lipton Discusses Important Supreme Court Business Cases Last Term and Next
The Supreme Court’s now-concluded October Term 2020 marked a slow return to normalcy following the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Court released only 56 signed opinions — just a handful more than the prior Term, and well below the …
When Forum Selection Clauses Bind Non-Signatories
When a company signs a contract containing a forum selection clause, it is clearly bound by that provision. But what about its parent company? Its subsidiaries? Its affiliates? Are these non-parties likewise bound by the forum selection clause?
The answer …