On April 12, 2024, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. v. Moab Partners, L. P., vacating a judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that had reinstated claims...more
In a recent decision, Moab Partners, L.P. v. Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a lower court’s dismissal of claims under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange...more
Looking back, 2022 was light on groundbreaking appellate-level securities decisions. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, however, closed out the year with a notable decision in Menora Mivtachim Insurance Ltd....more
In remarks on March 5, 2022 on PLI’s Corporate Governance webcast, Commissioner Allison Herren Lee of the Securities and Exchange Commission stated that, 20 years after its enactment, it is time to revisit the “unfulfilled...more
In the first quarter of 2022, federal appellate courts issued a number of thought-provoking (albeit not monumental) decisions addressing the reach of the federal securities laws and, in some cases, highlighting potentially...more
Federal courts closed out 2021 with a flurry of securities decisions in the month of December. In this update, we discuss two decisions involving claims under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule...more
1/19/2022
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Material Misstatements ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Violations ,
Vaccinations
On September 20, 2021, in Pirani v. Slack Technologies, Inc., a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that investors who purchase stock in a “direct listing”—in which pre-existing shares are...more
11/2/2021
/ Article III ,
Class Action ,
Direct Listing ,
Investment ,
Misrepresentation ,
Registration Statement ,
Section 11 ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Securities Violations ,
Slack ,
Standing ,
Unregistered Securities
On May 10, 2021, in SEC v. Morrone, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that the federal securities laws apply to securities transactions as long as “irrevocable liability”—the point at which...more
On April 16, 2021, in In re Bibox Group Holdings Ltd. Securities Litigation, Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a putative class action alleging registration...more
4/23/2021
/ Blockchain ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Standing ,
Unregistered Securities
Legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives threatens to shake up the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement program in a historic manner....more
6/12/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Government Investigations ,
Pending Legislation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Wells Notice ,
White Collar Crimes
2016 was an active year in securities litigation. In the first half of 2016 alone, plaintiffs filed 119 new federal class action securities cases. It was also a busy year for SEC enforcement proceedings, with a record 868...more
1/13/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Appointments Clause ,
Article II ,
Audits ,
Best Buy ,
C&DIs ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Confidential Information ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Dirks v SEC ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 8-K ,
Fraud-on-the-Market ,
Halliburton v Erica P. John Fund ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Janus Capital Group ,
Jurisdiction ,
Loss Causation ,
Mergers ,
Merrill Lynch v Manning ,
Misleading Impressions ,
Omnicare v Laborers District Council ,
Pensions ,
Personal Benefit ,
Pfizer ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
PHH Corp. v CFPB ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Regulation S-K ,
Removal For-Cause ,
RESPA ,
Sanofi ,
Securities ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Violations ,
Short Selling ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Stock Prices ,
Unions ,
US v Newman ,
US v Salman ,
Wells Notice ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies
Friends and relatives of corporate insiders who knowingly receive and trade on inside information now confront greater exposure for federal securities laws violations. On December 6, 2016, the Supreme Court held in United...more
12/9/2016
/ Confidential Information ,
Dirks v SEC ,
Financial Markets ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Non-Public Information ,
Personal Benefit ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Violations ,
Tippees ,
Tippers ,
US v Newman ,
US v Salman ,
White Collar Crimes