On June 17, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Nvidia Corp. v. E. Ohman J:or Fonder AB, agreeing to hear Nvidia’s appeal of a Ninth Circuit ruling that revived shareholders’ fraud claims regarding Nvidia’s...more
6/19/2024
/ Bitcoin Mining ,
Certiorari ,
Cryptocurrency ,
NVIDIA ,
Nvidia Corp v E Ohman J or Fonder AB ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
PSLRA ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation
On April 12, in a long-awaited and pivotal decision, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that private plaintiffs may not plead a federal securities fraud claim under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934...more
In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by Partners Sheri Adler and Mary Weeks to discuss the recent uptick in SEC enforcement activity related to whistleblowers. They focus on the implications...more
In this episode of the Hiring to Firing Podcast, Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs, along with fellow Partners Sheri Adler and Mary Weeks, chat about the ultimate whistleblower — police officer Frank Serpico — and the...more
Background -
Under Section 922 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, Congress expanded protections for whistleblowers reporting possible violations of federal securities laws to the...more
11/30/2023
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Confidential Information ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employees ,
Employment Contract ,
Internal Reporting ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case this term involving the circuit split over the types of disclosures that private plaintiffs can enforce under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Section 10(b)...more
10/6/2023
/ Certiorari ,
Class Action ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Macquarie Infrastructure Corp v Moab Partners LP ,
Regulation S-K ,
Rule 10(b) ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations
Many publicly reporting companies often respond to lawsuits by characterizing them as “without merit” in their securities filings. If the company does not prevail in such litigation, can it still be held responsible for...more
8/17/2023
/ Class Action ,
Misappropriation ,
Misleading Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Scienter ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Smaller Reporting Companies ,
Trademarks
In a long-awaited decision in SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc., U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York held that Ripple Labs, Inc.’s (Ripple) XRP token is not, in and of itself, a security requiring...more
On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in SEC v. Jarkesy, et al. and agreed to hear the case that could potentially end the use of administrative courts and administrative law judges (ALJ) in administrative...more
In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Slack Technologies v. Pirani, No. 22-200, 2023 WL 3742580, 598 U.S. __ ( June 1, 2023) that a claim under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 is not viable unless a...more
A complaint recently filed by the SEC against Vale S.A., a Brazilian mining company with U.S.-traded American Depository Receipts (ADRs), signals an increased risk of enforcement actions targeting misrepresentations and...more
Judge Paul Wallace of the Delaware Superior Court issued a recent opinion in Diamond Fortress Technologies, Inc. v. EverID, Inc., clarifying the treatment of cryptocurrency assets when calculating damages. The opinion also...more
A jury recently held that four cryptocurrency-related products were not “investment contracts,” giving cryptocurrency market participants some much-needed and rarely received comfort that their digital asset(s) or product(s)...more
There is a new demand futility test in Delaware, adopted on September 23 by the Delaware Supreme Court in affirming dismissal of a stockholder derivative action against Facebook, Inc. (Facebook) founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and...more
A recent decision out of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals sets limits on plaintiffs’ ability to transform regulatory violations into the basis for securities class actions. The decision further clarifies that issuers do...more
A recent decision out of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (District of Massachusetts) reaffirms the ability of pharmaceutical companies to make optimistic public statements about clinical trials...more
On June 21, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. v. Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, a closely watched case involving the standards for class certification in securities class actions....more
6/25/2021
/ Arkansas Teacher Retirement System v Goldman Sachs Group ,
Basic v Levinson ,
Burden of Persuasion ,
Burden of Proof ,
Certiorari ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Investors ,
Presumption of Reliance ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Litigation ,
Shareholders
The SEC’s Division of Enforcement recently issued voluntary information requests to several public companies, inquiring about the details of any impact arising from the widely publicized December 2020 SolarWinds cyberattack....more
Recent commentary by Diana Tani, an assistant regional director with the SEC, at the Securities Enforcement West web conference emphasized the agency's focus on data-driven investigations. Two areas targeted for recent...more
On April 20, in Frei v. Taro Pharmaceutical U.S.A., Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a Southern District of New York opinion from U.S. District Court Judge Vincent Briccetti, which dismissed,...more
In a decision likely to cause some consternation for companies defending against federal securities claims, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an unpublished decision on March 22,...more