Sky Blog
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):
The first half of 2017 brought with it a nearly unprecedented rate of new filings (a pace few predicted), as well as several important developments in the securities laws. Among other things, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to weigh in …
The Supreme Court announced last month that it will take up the question of whether state courts have subject matter jurisdiction over class actions under the Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act). Cyan, Inc. v. Beaver Cty. Employees Ret. …
Much has been written about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s interpretive philosophy and his overall impact on the law. But surprisingly little attention has been paid to his contributions to modern bankruptcy law.
In an article about Justice Scalia’s …
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide an unusual, yet important, case brought by investors in bonds issued by Lehman Brothers, the infamous investment bank that collapsed in September 2008. The case, CalPERS v. ANZ Securities, Inc., is not …
Tax regulators and acquisition sponsors have long been embroiled in a cat and mouse game in the context of corporate inversions—cross-border transactions in which a U.S.-incorporated public corporation is “acquired” by a foreign entity, and the survivor’s locus of incorporation …
A federal court in Utah recently held that the Securities and Exchange Commission may bring an enforcement action based on allegedly foreign securities transactions involving non-U.S. residents if sufficient conduct occurred in the United States.
The March 28, 2017 ruling …
On March 27, 2017, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in a potentially significant securities case addressing the scope of claims under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5, based solely on alleged omissions of …
The Supreme Court has long held that “[s]ilence, absent a duty to disclose, is not misleading under Rule 10b-5.”[1] And such a duty to disclose only arises where necessary to make a statement already made not misleading, thus allowing …
On January 31, 2017, President Trump announced the nomination of Tenth Circuit Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s former seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. This note reviews Judge Gorsuch’s approach to antitrust issues as reflected in his …
The dominant narrative about Salman v. United States, the first insider trading case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in almost 20 years, is that it was a big win for federal prosecutors. That is only part of the story.…