Overall
Key cases
Industries
Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment
Corporate
Practice Areas
Securities
-
May 20, 2013
PBGC Wants 2nd Circ. To Rethink Morgan Stanley ERISA Case
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. on Friday asked the Second Circuit for an en banc rehearing of its case alleging Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc. negligently invested a pension plan's assets in mortgage-backed securities, saying the case's dismissal hinders enforcement of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
-
May 20, 2013
Q&A With Robbins Arroyo's Stephen Oddo
The most discussed issue in my area of practice right now is the multijurisdictional trend in shareholder merger litigation that sees actions challenging a merger in as many as three different venues. Better coordination among plaintiffs' counsel could help alleviate that problem and I think the plaintiffs' bar is moving in that direction, says Stephen Oddo, leader of Robbins Orroyo LLP's merger and acquisition practice.
-
May 20, 2013
Friend Of Ex-KPMG Partner Pleads Guilty To Insider Trading
A jeweler at the center of the recent KPMG LLP insider trading scandal pled guilty to a felony conspiracy charge Monday in California federal court, admitting he received illicit stock tips from a close friend who was a partner in the accounting firm's Los Angeles office.
-
May 20, 2013
Senate Committee Launches Pension-Lender Probe
A U.S. Senate committee announced Monday that it is searching for victims of potential pension-lending schemes, launching an investigation of loans in which retirees sign over benefits for cash but are hit by hidden exorbitant interest rates and fees.
-
May 20, 2013
$8.5B BofA Settlement Will Be Weighed By Judge, Not Jury
A New York state judge said Monday that she alone, and not a jury, will decide if Bank of America Corp. can go through with a $8.5 billion mortgage-backed securities settlement, finding that the process used doesn't require a jury.
-
May 20, 2013
Dell Tells Icahn Hands Tied By Silver Lake Merger Deal
Dell Inc. on Monday told Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc. that it couldn't provide the buyout suitors more details unless the board deemed their proposal “superior” to Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners' offer, setting up an information-sharing standoff.
-
May 20, 2013
High Court To Review SOX's Protection Of Private Contractors
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it would clarify whether private contractors of public companies are protected by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s whistleblower protections, granting writ to a pair of retaliation suits against privately owned Fidelity Investments.
-
May 17, 2013
Winston & Strawn Faces DQ Bid In Calif. City Bankruptcies
Citing an alleged conflict of interest, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System told a California federal judge on Friday that Winston & Strawn LLP should be disqualified from representing a creditor in the Chapter 9 bankruptcies of the cities of Stockton and San Bernardino.
-
May 17, 2013
Hedge Fund Sues For Proxy Fight Rematch With Digirad
Hedge fund Red Oak Partners LLC sued Wednesday seeking to force a rematch in its proxy fight with Digirad Corp., accusing the medical imaging company of numerous underhanded maneuvers that allegedly swayed a board election in its favor.
-
May 17, 2013
SAC To Scale Back Cooperation With Insider Trading Probe
SAC Capital Advisors LLC reportedly informed its investors Friday that it was reducing its cooperation with U.S. government investigators looking into allegations of insider trading at the fund.
-
May 17, 2013
JPMorgan Backs Dimon Before Shareholder Vote On Split Role
JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Thursday urged shareholders to reject a proposal by activist investors that would split the CEO and chairman of the board positions, both of which are held by the embattled James Dimon, who presided over the company during its infamous $6.2 billion “London Whale” loss.
-
May 17, 2013
Investor Says Bain's $7B Bid For Software Co. Is Too Low
A pension fund that invests in Houston-based BMC Software Inc. on Thursday sued in Delaware Chancery court to challenge a $6.9 billion take-private deal led by Bain Capital LLC and Golden Gate Capital, saying it undervalues the company and cheats shareholders.
-
May 17, 2013
Drug Co. Scores Partial Win In Suit Over Botched Offering
A Delaware judge on Thursday granted a partial win to Emmaus Life Sciences Inc. in a suit over a botched public offering, ruling the drugmaker properly voided an agreement with an alleged check kiter and his company AFH Holding & Advisory LLC.
-
May 17, 2013
Company Control Not Just About Share Count, Chancery Says
Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster laid out a broad definition of “controlling party” this week, emphasizing that it's not stock ownership, but the rights that come with it, that raise red flags and warrant a higher standard of judicial scrutiny in transactions.
-
May 17, 2013
Continental Ducks Shareholder Suit Over $313M Oil Asset Buy
An Oklahoma federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit accusing Continental Resources Inc. of withholding information from shareholders about a $313 million oil assets acquisition, ruling that Continental executives didn't breach their fiduciary duties because a proxy statement contained enough information about the deal.
-
May 17, 2013
ING Gave Morgan Stanley Kickbacks For 401(k) Biz, Suit Says
An Alabama medical laboratory filed a proposed class action in New York federal court on Friday alleging Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. encouraged the lab to use ING Life Insurance and Annuity Co. to administer its employees' 401(k) plan because ING paid the brokerage firm extra fees.
-
May 17, 2013
Credit Agricole Slams Lehman's $34M Terminated-Swaps Suit
Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank on Friday urged a New York bankruptcy judge to throw out a lawsuit brought by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. over $34 million in terminated swap transactions, saying it doesn’t owe the fallen investment bank a cent.
-
May 17, 2013
Ex-Broker Gets Probation For Muni Bond Bid-Rigging
After cooperating with a sweeping multistate investigation, the former CEO of a New York-based brokerage was sentenced to two years of probation Friday for his role in a municipal bond bid-rigging conspiracy.
-
May 17, 2013
Rakoff Gives Dexia's $774M JPMorgan MBS Suit 2nd Life
U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Friday vacated an earlier decision dismissing Dexia NV/SA's suit accusing JPMorgan Chase Bank NA of selling defective residential mortgage-backed securities, saying that a New York state court should handle the Belgian bank's $774 million claim.
-
May 17, 2013
Juniper Ducks Securities Suit Over Alleged Misstatements
A California federal judge on Friday threw out a putative class action brought against Juniper Networks Inc. for purportedly assuring investors that the company was doing well when it was actually facing several problems, saying the allegations didn’t give reasonable inference that Juniper’s projections were false and misleading.
Expert Analysis
-
Mixed Messages Over Municipal Adviser Registration
In the three years since Congress mandated that all municipal advisers must register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, there has been enormous debate about just what a 'municipal adviser' is. To make matters worse, the SEC is now sending mixed messages concerning when it might complete its rulemaking, say Thomas Potter and Benjamin Coulter of Burr & Forman LLP.
-
Insights From An Under-The-Radar CDO Case
A case that seems to have gone relatively unnoticed is ASR Levensverzekering NV v. Swiss Re Financial Products Corporation. Dismissed by the New York Supreme Court, the case provides useful insights into the application of New York fraud and contract law in the context of complex financial transactions, say James Bliss and Kevin Broughel of Paul Hastings LLP.
-
E-Discovery In The Cloud: Who Can Get Your Data?
Many lawyers are asking whether placing electronically stored information in the cloud could inadvertently waive the attorney-client privilege and whether the government or a civil litigant could obtain ESI directly from a cloud service provider. In answering these questions, there are a number of aspects of the cloud worth considering, say Timothy Broas and Matthew Saxon of Winston & Strawn LLP.
-
Get Ready For A 'Substituted Compliance' Regime
In a complete 180-degree reversal of its previous position, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is on the verge of accepting an international financial regulatory regime of mutual recognition. "Substituted compliance" will help inform foreign market participants about which rules they must follow when their swap activities cross U.S. borders, says Bradley Dizik of Tiberian Regulatory Advisers LLC.
-
Why The Libor Lawsuits Are Not Dead
In the wake of a recent court ruling in the Southern District of New York, many people have suggested that London Interbank Offered Rate litigations are now nearly over. Although the ruling represents a significant victory for the defendant banks, and a major challenge to the litigation strategy of many of the claimants, it is by no means the end of the Libor litigations, says Ilan Guedj of ARPC.
-
FINRA's Position On Pre-Inception Index Performance Data
FINRA has now formalized its position (albeit in a limited way) on pre-inception index performance data for exchange-traded products. Although the agency permits firms to distribute PIP data only to institutional investors, the recent guidance nonetheless provides some much-needed regulatory clarity for market participants, say Richard Morris and John O’Brien of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.
-
Lessons From Philips FCPA Settlement Over Polish Bribes
While Poland has not received particular Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement focus over the years, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent order against Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV over Polish bribes underscores the fact that, in given circumstances, any country can present high corruption risk, say attorneys with Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
-
A Model For Facing Meritless Derivative Suits In Pa.
The decision by the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas in In re H.J. Heinz Co. Derivative and Class Action Litigation represents a faithful application of the American Law Institute’s Principles of Corporate Governance, which were formally adopted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the landmark decision Cuker v. Mikalauskas, say attorneys with Dechert LLP.
-
Sui Generis At Supreme Court
Not since Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933 have we seen a Supreme Court so imbalanced that it would throw its own power away as it did in Twombly, Iqbal and Concepcion, or devalue its own authority through matters of little interest, simply for the benefit of large American corporations, says Fred Isquith of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP.
-
A Significant Impact On Private Investment Funds
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., recently reintroduced the Inclusive Prosperity Act of 2013, a financial transaction tax that, according to its supporters, would provide the federal government between $150 billion and $340 billion of revenue per year. The bill is, essentially, a sales tax on large Wall Street banks — however, its provisions seem to impact hedge funds and private equity funds, says David Sussman of Duane Morris LLP.