In New England Carpenters Guaranteed Annuity and Pension Funds v. DeCarlo (Aug. 2023), the Second Circuit held, among other things, that CEO/CFO certifications mandated by SOX Section 302 constitute non-actionable statements...more
On March 20, 2018, the United States Supreme Court decided Cyan, Inc. v. Beaver County Employees Retirement Fund, in which it unanimously held that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 does not strip state...more
On June 1, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion that makes it more difficult for shareholders to bring Section 11 claims against companies that go public via direct listings. The case involved a...more
On June 1, 2023, the US Supreme Court held in a unanimous decision in Slack Technologies LLC v. Pirani that Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act) “requires a plaintiff to plead and prove that he purchased...more
The public and private focus on corporate governance continued apace in the first half of 2023. In recent months, there were notable developments in jurisprudence potentially impacting corporate diversity initiatives and in...more
The Supreme Court seldom takes up issues around the federal securities laws. But in June, it handed down an important decision involving Section 11 of the Securities Act. Section 11 imposes strict liability on companies when...more
A unanimous Supreme Court has confirmed that a claim brought under section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 ("1933 Act") requires that a plaintiff plead and prove that the shares purchased were issued pursuant to an allegedly...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
On June 1, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court (the Supreme Court) issued a much-anticipated decision in the case captioned Slack Technologies, LLC, fka Slack Technologies, Inc. (Slack), et al. v. Pirani (the Slack Decision), which...more
On June 1, 2023, in Slack Technologies, LLC, et al., v. Pirani, the Supreme Court unanimously held that plaintiffs alleging a violation of Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”) must plead and prove that...more
On June 1, 2023, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that a stockholder bringing claims under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 must plead and prove that they purchased shares traceable to the allegedly...more
On June 1, 2023, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Slack Technologies, LLC v. Pirani, holding that a plaintiff asserting a claim under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”) must plead...more
On June 1, 2023, the United States Supreme Court held in a unanimous decision that, under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”), plaintiffs must plead and prove that they purchased securities that...more
In Slack Technologies, LLC v. Pirani,1 the Supreme Court on June 1, 2023, unanimously held that even in a case involving direct listing of both registered and unregistered securities, to state a claim under Section 11(a) of...more
U.S. Supreme Court resolves circuit split created by Ninth Circuit decision which had held that traceability not required in the context of a direct listing. By requiring traceability, the Supreme Court cabins strict...more
A unanimous Supreme Court today made it more difficult for shareholders to file suits under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act or the Act). The Court held in Slack Technologies, LLC v. Fiyyaz Pirani...more
On June 1, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Slack Technologies, LLC v. Pirani vacating a Ninth Circuit decision2 that had extended the scope of Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933, which provides a...more
On Thursday, SCOTUS decided Slack Technologies v. Pirani in a unanimous opinion by Justice Gorsuch holding that, even in a registration by direct listing, §11(a) liability extends only to shares that are traceable to an...more
Supreme Court Hears Argument on Traceability Requirement in Circuit-Split Slack v. Pirani - Key Points - - Before the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in a high-profile securities case...more
The U.S. Supreme Court held that purchasers of shares sold to the public through a direct listing cannot sue under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 unless they can trace their shares to an allegedly defective...more
Our Securities Litigation Group analyzes the impact of the Axon and Cochran decisions on the use of administrative law judges (ALJs) and gleans clues about the future of direct listings from the Slack oral argument....more
The US Supreme Court recently agreed to hear an important appeal of a US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision interpreting Sections 11 and 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 in the context of a direct stock...more
After years of relative silence related to variable annuity exchanges on the regulatory front, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced last week settled charges against RiverSource Distributors, Inc...more
On September 20, 2021, in Pirani v. Slack Technologies, Inc., a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that investors who purchase stock in a “direct listing”—in which pre-existing shares are...more
In the past several years, the number of claims filed against newly public companies under the Securities Act of 1933 has increased significantly. At the same time, the development of direct listings has given companies...more