Episode 322 -- Checking in on Caremark Cases
On May 7, 2025, the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a significant decision in Daly v. The Wonderful Company LLC, No. 24 C 1267 (N.D. Ill.). The court dismissed with prejudice a putative class...more
U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals - Jones v. Ceinski - qualified immunity - Otto Candies v. Citigroup - RICO, fraud, conspiracy - Berrocal v. US Att’y Gen - standing, international treaty - Maglana v....more
In Cunningham v. Cornell University,1 the Supreme Court unanimously held that plaintiffs who bring a prohibited transaction claim under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) are only...more
by Alex Smith The Supreme Court recently issued a decision regarding the pleading standards for ERISA prohibited transactions claims in a case involving Cornell’s 403(b) plan to resolve a federal circuit court split. Under...more
Many sponsors and fiduciaries of ERISA retirement plans had been hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Cunningham v. Cornell University (No. 23-1007) would articulate new pleading standards that would slow the...more
The US Supreme Court has issued a unanimous opinion that could lead to an increase in litigation for prohibited transaction claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA)....more
In a decision poised to change the landscape of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) litigation, on April 17, 2025, the Supreme Court held in Cunningham et al. v. Cornell University et al. that a claimant...more
Key takeaway: The Supreme Court held that to state an ERISA prohibited-transaction claim under 29 U.S.C. § 1106(a), a plaintiff needs only to plausibly allege the elements contained in § 1106(a) itself and does not need to...more
In a unanimous decision reversing dismissal of prohibited transaction claims based on fees paid to defined contribution plan recordkeepers, the Supreme Court held that ERISA’s prohibited transaction exemptions are affirmative...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued one decision today: Cunningham v. Cornell University, No. 23-1007: This case addresses the pleading standard to assert a claim under a provision of the Employee Retirement...more
In an unexpected turn of events, the U.S. Supreme Court recently dismissed without explanation two securities fraud class action cases out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit—Facebook, Inc. v. Amalgamated Bank...more
On December 11, 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed NVIDIA Corporation’s appeal, allowing a class action securities fraud case to move forward towards trial. The Plaintiffs originally brought the case in the United States...more
The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in two cases concerning the pleading standard in securities fraud class actions....more
As courts have recognized, "[t]he fact that a company has suffered a security breach does not demonstrate that the company did not place significant emphasis on maintaining a high level of security."1 Nevertheless, companies...more
On June 17, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari on Nvidia’s appeal of the Ninth Circuit’s decision to revive a shareholder class action lawsuit against the company. The Supreme Court will consider the appropriate...more
A recent decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit highlights the “heightened and demanding standard” required to plead securities fraud under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA). In affirming...more
Consumer perception evidence is necessary for plaintiffs to survive summary judgment in a false advertising class action, but vacillating and flawed connections between the evidence and the key question of what a reasonable...more
Delaware court declines to enforce restrictive covenants in LLC agreement but grants interlocutory appeal. In Sunder Energy v. Jackson, et al., a company, Sunder, sued a former employee, Jackson, for breaching a...more
On November 27, a landmark PFAS decision by the Sixth Circuit effectively dismissed a statewide class action for lack of standing. This potentially sets the stage for a new era of PFAS litigation, where historically general...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued its decision in Matney v. Barrick Gold of North America, et al. on Sept. 6, 2023, finding that participants in an employer-sponsored defined contribution retirement plan...more
On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit issued its opinion in Hughes v. Northwestern University, concluding that participants in two Northwestern 403(b) plans plausibly pled fiduciary-breach claims based on...more
A federal court in Wisconsin recently allowed a putative ERISA class action in Lucero v. Credit Union Ret. Plan Ass’n to proceed to discovery on the claim that a 401(k) plan paid excessive recordkeeping fees. This decision...more
Key Points - The 9th Circuit, disagreeing again with the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 11th Circuits, reaffirmed that claims under Section 14(e) of the Exchange Act do not require a showing of scienter. In the 9th...more
One of the first significant class certification-related decisions of 2023 comes from the Fifth Circuit. While some trial courts hesitate to strike class action allegations on the pleadings, the district court here concluded...more
Class Certification - Central District of California Denies Class Certification in Securities Fraud Action Concerning Company’s Purchase of ADRs - Stoyas v. Toshiba Corp., No. 2:15-cv-04194 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 7, 2022) - ...more