Sky Blog
Last week, the House of Representatives passed the “Insider Trading Prohibition Act” (“ITPA”).[1] Proponents are hailing it as a triumph of bipartisan cooperation. Conversely, critics are calling it the “Insider Trading Protection Act.” This is because the bill codifies …
On April 22, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court held in AMG Capital Management, LLC v. Federal Trade Commission[1] that Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act does not give the Federal Trade Commission the authority to seek (or …
Notwithstanding the ongoing spread of COVID-19 and unprecedented changes in daily life and the economy, the second half of 2020 marched on to the steady drumbeat of securities-related lawsuits we have observed in recent years, including securities class and stockholder …
On January 13, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case, AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC, that could substantially curtail the primary authority the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) relies on to seek monetary relief from defendants in federal court. …
On Friday night, December 11, 2020, tucked below its order denying Texas’s bid to overturn the results of the Presidential election, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review what petitioners Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and its former top executives (“Goldman”) …
On June 1, 2020, the Supreme Court held in Thole v. U.S. Bank N.A.[1] that participants in a defined-benefit pension plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, commonly known as ERISA, lack Article III standing …
During a four-month span in late 2018, two events occurred at opposite ends of the country that could dramatically reshape the regulation of corporations in America. First, in September 2018, California enacted the nation’s first law mandating board gender diversity…
The most significant securities decision to be handed down in the first half of 2019 came from the Supreme Court in Lorenzo v. SEC, which clarified the scope of “scheme liability” under Rule 10b-5(a) and (c). Another significant ruling …
In Lorenzo v. SEC, the U.S. Supreme Court continued the struggle to define the difference between primary liability and aiding and abetting liability in Rule 10b-5 and other securities fraud claims. The difference matters because private plaintiffs do not have …
On January 24, former SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager Mathew Martoma petitioned the Supreme Court to review his 2014 conviction for insider trading. Martoma’s conviction stems from activity in 2008 when he paid a doctor from the University of Michigan …
On June 18, 2018, the Supreme Court granted cert in Lorenzo v. Securities and Exchange Commission (Lorenzo), a case that presents significant questions about the federal securities laws. Lorenzo also comes with a twist: The underlying D.C. Circuit decision …
The continued explosion in the number of securities class action filings is once again the big headline in our half yearly update. The now-sustained increase in both the number of filings and average and median settlement amounts—including a five-fold increase …
This is a column for insider trading junkies—a special breed who love all the nuances in this very nuanced subject. Late last month, a Second Circuit panel did something fairly unusual: It withdrew a 2017 decision and substituted a new …
In the consolidated cases of Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, Ernst & Young LLP v. Morris, and National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc.,[1] the U.S. Supreme Court held on May 21 that arbitration agreements in which …
Largely because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1975 decision in Withrow v. Larkin, the accepted view for decades has been that a federal administrative agency does not violate the Due Process Clause by combining the functions of investigating, charging, …
I’ve had the honor of serving as a commissioner of the SEC for just over a month now— and I’ve learned a lot in that time, mostly from the outstanding staff. I’ve been schooled about cryptocurrency, spent hours wading through …
Professor Donald Langevoort of Georgetown Law speaks with Reynolds Holding about how two duties — the obligation to disclose or abstain from trading on material information and the duty to reveal corporate secrets — evolved from the Second Circuit’s Texas …
On November 29, 2017, the Solicitor General filed a brief in the Supreme Court on behalf of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) reversing the agency’s position and arguing that SEC administrative law judges (“ALJs”) have been unconstitutionally appointed to …
On November 28, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States held oral argument in the highly anticipated case of Cyan, Inc. v. Beaver County Employees Retirement Fund, No. 15-1439, to decide whether the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act …
This update provides an overview of key class action developments during the second quarter of 2017 (April through June):