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The ERISA Litigation Newsletter - April 2013

Editor's Overview - The importance of clear and unambiguous plan language cannot be overstated. The Second Circuit recently applied this well-established principle to conclude that a plan's administrative claims process must...more

Sixth Circuit: FERA False Claims Act Amendment Applies Retroactively to Cases Pending as of June 7, 2008

On November 2, 2012, the Sixth Circuit held that a 2009 amendment Congress made to the liability provisions of the False Claims Act ("FCA") applies retroactively to civil FCA cases pending as of June 7, 2008. U.S. ex rel....more

Indiana's Wage Payment and Wage Claims Statutes

This week's article is dedicated to a discussion of the recent Indiana Court of Appeals decision in Fox v. Nichter Construction Co., Inc., in which the court examined the interplay of Indiana's Wage Payment and Wage Claim...more

Gabelli v. SEC,

Brief Of The CATO Institute As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Petitioners

Statutes of limitations exist for good reason: Over time, evidence can be corrupted or disappear, memories fade, and companies dispose of records. Moreover, people want to get on with their lives and not have legal battles...more

Chancery Court Finds Management Services Agreement Key in Establishing Jurisdiction

On August 28, 2012, the Delaware Court of Chancery found that a management services agreement could help establish both personal jurisdiction through a conspiracy to defraud and joint and several liability through an agency...more

Does the Government Have a Perpetual Statute of Limitations?

The United States Supreme Court has just granted a writ of certiorari to decide whether the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has, in essence, a perpetual statute of limitations in cases arising out of alleged...more

Unreasonable Reliance: Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of FAL, Fraud and UCL Claims at the Pleading Stage

In Davis v. HSBC Bank Nevada, N.A., No. 10-56488, 2012 WL 3804370 (9th Cir. Aug. 31, 2012), the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of claims for (1) false advertising in violation of the California Business and Professions...more

Ninth Circuit Applies ERISA Fiduciary Privilege Exception to Insurer

On September 12, 2012, the Ninth Circuit became the first circuit court to consider the Third Circuit’s holding in Wachtel v. Health Net, Inc., 482 F.3d 225 (3d Cir. 2007), that the ERISA “fiduciary exception” to the...more

The Texas Anti-SLAPP Statute: Issues for Business Tort Litigation - September 2012

On June 17, 2011, Texas Governor Rick Perry affixed his neat signature to Texas‘ new anti-SLAPP law, entitled the Texas Citizens Participation Act (the "TCPA"), and in so doing Texas joined 28 states and the District of...more

Federal Court Declines to Enjoin AG Prosecution of Claims Subject to Class Settlement

On August 22, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida denied a major bank’s motion to enjoin prosecution by two state attorneys general of claims related to the bank’s credit card payment protection...more

The ERISA Litigation Newsletter - August 2012

In This Issue: - Editor's Overview - The Affordable Care Act and Its Coverage Mandates for Employers: A Potent Recipe for ERISA Class Actions - Rulings, Filings, and Settlements of Interest ...more

Corporate and Financial Weekly Digest - August 10, 2012

In this issue: - Futures Exchanges Propose Rules Requiring Consent to Jurisdiction - Securities Fraud Claim Survives Despite Post-Fraud Stock Recovery - Failure to Make Pre-Suit Demand Bars a Derivative...more

Qualified Default Investment Alternative Safe Harbor Upheld

Sixth Circuit finds that plan fiduciaries did not breach their duties when participants' investments were transferred to the plan's default fund without their explicit consent....more

The Texas Anti-SLAPP Statute: Issues for Business Tort Litigation - May 2012

Introduction - On June 17, 2011, Texas Governor Rick Perry affixed his neat signature to Texas’ new anti-SLAPP law, entitled the Texas Citizens Participation Act (the “TCPA”), and in so doing Texas joined 28 states and the...more

Court Holds a Wells Notice Does Not Trigger an Automatic Disclosure Obligation for Public Companies

United States District Judge Paul Crotty, sitting in the Southern District of New York, has issued a ruling holding that a public company did not have a duty, upon which a federal securities fraud claim could be based, to...more

Central Laborers Pension Fund v. News Corp., No. 682, 2011 (Del. May 29, 2012) (Holland, J.) - May 29, 2012

In this en banc memorandum opinion, the Delaware Supreme Court, relying on an alternative rationale, affirmed the Delaware Court of Chancery’s determination that an action brought by a beneficial stockholder under Section 220...more

Legal Analysis: Anticipating How the U.S. Supreme Court May Rethink Fraud-on-the-Market Standards for Securities Class Actions

The Supreme Court has granted review in Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans & Trust Funds to address the findings that a district court must make before certifying that a securities fraud case may proceed as a class...more

State AGs Granted Right to Intervene in Private MBS Action

On June 6, a New York state court ordered that the attorneys general for the states of Delaware and New York (state AGs) could intervene in a case challenging an $8.5 billion settlement related to allegations that the...more

Developments Regarding Extraterritorial Effect of U.S. Securities Fraud Statutes

In June 2010, the Supreme Court overturned years of federal jurisprudence by holding that the U.S. securities fraud laws do not apply extraterritorially in the case Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd, 561 U.S. _, 130 S....more

ESOP Legal News - June 2012 • Volume 1, Number 3

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: -District court upholds prudence claim, dismisses communications and monitoring claims brought by participants in Community National Bank Corporation Employee Stock Ownership Plan; -Eleventh...more

New York, Delaware AGs Again Intervene in BofA-Countrywide MBS Settlement Proceeding

On Wednesday, June 6, 2012, Judge Barbara R. Kapnick granted the motions of the Attorneys General of the states of New York and Delaware to intervene in the proceeding to approve the $8.5 billion settlement between Bank of...more

Appeals Court Ruling Emphasizes Limits on Reach of SEC Anti-Fraud Powers

While the recent economic crisis brought newly invigorated political support for SEC enforcement against financial services companies, a recent case shows that the courts will still prevent the SEC from overreaching in its...more

Appeal Tribunal Upholds FSA Ban and Fine on Former Investment Bank Advisers

On May 21, the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) published related decisions upholding the Financial Services Authority's decision notices imposing fines and bans on both Sachin Karpe and Laila Karan....more

Will the FDIC’s Claims Against Directors and Officers of Failed Banks for Simple Negligence Yield to the Protections of the...

Federal legislation has yet to specify the extent to which state law may protect directors and officers of failed banks against claims of simple negligence by FDIC, and Congress may soon be urged to step in. For now,...more

Former Employee Blows the Whistle on Delaware Unclaimed Property Exposure

In a recent unpublished decision, the Superior Court of Delaware, New Castle County, decided to allow a business entity’s former tax manager, joining with the attorney general for the state of Delaware, to proceed with a...more