On March 30, 2024, Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the Northern District of California granted a motion to dismiss a putative class action against a biotechnology company that develops and sells skin treatment drugs and...more
On March 30, 2024, Judge Victoria Marie Calvert of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted a motion to dismiss a putative securities class action against an optical retail company and...more
On February 23, 2024, Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York largely denied a motion to dismiss a putative class action asserting claims under the Securities...more
On February 1, 2024, Judge Gerald J. Pappert of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted a motion to dismiss a putative securities class action against an IT solutions company that...more
In a recent decision, the Fourth Circuit considered a class action lawsuit brought by shareholders of a biopharma company, INC Research Holdings, Inc. (now Syneos Health Inc.). The shareholders had voted to approve a merger...more
On March 2, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a putative securities class action against a company that manufactures cancer drugs (the “Company”), its president and CEO,...more
On February 14, 2023, Judge Charles R. Breyer of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted a motion to dismiss a putative securities class action alleging that a hearing aid company (the...more
This legal update summarizes (a) the reporting requirements under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), which are generally applicable to persons that own, or exercise investment...more
On January 22, 2023, Judge Percy Anderson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California granted a motion to dismiss the third amended class action complaint (“TAC”) in a putative class action...more
On October 20, 2022, Judge George A. O’Toole, Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (the “Court”) denied a motion to dismiss a putative securities class action against a business...more
On July 26, 2022, Judge Robert W. Gettleman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division granted in part and denied in part a motion for summary judgment in a securities fraud...more
On May 31, 2022, Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the Northern District of California dismissed without prejudice a putative class action asserting claims under the Securities Exchange Act against a synthetic biology company and...more
On March 7, 2022, Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss a putative class action asserting claims under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against a...more
Under Texas law, when the owners of closely held companies have co-investors, they need to exercise care in managing their business. This need for caution is due in large part to a Texas statute that makes it easier for...more
Since the Second Circuit’s 2014 decision in United States v. Newman triggered a debate about the personal benefit requirement, several bills have been introduced in Congress to define insider trading. The most recent effort...more
Last May, I wrote about U.S. District Court Judge Arthur D. Spatt's ruling in Hatteras Enters. v. Forsythe Cosmetic Grp., Ltd., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68792. That post concerned Judge Spatt's decision to apply California's...more
On December 10, 2018, Judge Susan D. Wigenton of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey denied defendants’ motion to dismiss a putative class action asserting violations of Sections 12(a)(1) and 15 of...more
On September 7, 2018, Judge Charles Breyer of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California denied a motion to dismiss a second amended putative class action complaint on behalf of Volkswagen...more
Virtually every complaint alleging a violation of the federal securities laws includes, near the end of the pleading, one or more counts alleging “control person” liability. Those counts are typically directed against the...more
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini commented on a case involving alleged violations of federal and state securities laws and state common law in an alleged scheme to defraud customers and investors in several...more
On June 28, 2017, Judge Charles R. Breyer of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ruled, among other things, that allegations of knowledge of “defeat devices” did not equate to knowledge of...more
Last week, the National Association of Bond Lawyers held its 13th Annual Tax and Securities Law Institute. Some of the panels included current and former employees of the SEC who spoke on several of the more notable recent...more
The South Carolina Board of Financial Institutions has decreased the fees required for a criminal background check for control persons. Effective February 2, 2015, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and FBI background...more
On January 28, 2015, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered a final judgment against Gary Burtka, the former mayor of Allen Park, Michigan, upholding the Security and Exchange Commission...more