In In re InterBank Funding Corp. Securities Litigation, No. 09-7167, --- F.3d ----, 2010 WL 5299882 (D.C. Cir. Dec. 28, 2010), the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of a class action asserting securities fraud claims under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and Rule 10b-5, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5, based upon a failure to adequately plead the essential element of reliance. The sole issue before the Court was whether the fraud allegations in the complaint involved material omissions, which would allow plaintiffs to invoke the presumption of reliance established by the United States Supreme Court in Affiliated Ute Citizens v. United States, 406 U.S. 128 (1972). In affirming the district court’s decision, the Court held that the complaint’s allegations of fraud focused primarily on affirmative misrepresentations, not omissions, and thus did not qualify for the Affiliated Ute presumption of reliance.
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