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Mealey's Securities

  • October 24, 2025

    9th Circuit: DAO Partners Too Late For Arbitration Against Token Purchasers

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that the partners of a decentralized anonymous organization that sold tokens filed too late their motion to compel arbitration in token purchasers’ class action against them for allegedly selling unregistered securities, and even if not, the subject arbitration agreement did not allow nonsignatories to the agreement to compel arbitration.

  • October 24, 2025

    Judge Approves Distribution Plan For $40M Settlement In Fracking Securities Case

    HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas has approved the distribution plan for a $40 million all-cash payment to settle claims brought by shareholders against a hydraulic fracturing operator and three of its senior executives, ruling that the process of reviewing claims has been completed.

  • October 23, 2025

    Federal Circuit: No Error In PTAB Recusal, But Board Didn’t Examine Copying

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said Oct. 22 that it saw no error in the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) analysis of the recusal of an administrative patent judge (APJ) after the institution of inter partes review (IPR) for a cybersecurity patent; the panel also held, though, that PTAB failed to fully consider evidence on copying provided by the appellant patent holder.

  • October 23, 2025

    9th Circuit: Token Issuer Can’t Enforce Platform’s Terms Against Purchasers

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a cryptocurrency token issuer could not enforce a third-party platform’s terms of service against purchasers of the tokens because the terms of use did not delegate to the arbitrator the question of arbitrability with the nonsignatory issuer and the issuer couldn’t invoke those terms of service through equitable estoppel.

  • October 20, 2025

    3rd Circuit: ‘Corporate Trauma,’ Negligence Don’t Constitute Securities Fraud

    PHILADELPHIA — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of shareholders’ class complaint alleging that a real estate investment trust’s (REIT) failure to stop a tenant’s fraud against it made certain statements false or misleading; the panel found that most of the challenged statements were opinions that, while “ill-advised,” were not fraudulent.

  • October 17, 2025

    D.C. Circuit Finds SEC Did Not Exceed Authority In Lowering Access-Fee Cap

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied securities exchanges’ petition for review of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s amendment to a rule lowering the cap of fees that exchanges can charge investors to access their services, finding the SEC did not exceed its authority or act arbitrarily or capriciously.

  • October 15, 2025

    Investors Seek Clarification That Mandamus Grant Doesn’t Vacate Deposition Order

    CINCINNATI — Investors filed a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking clarity and confirmation that the panel did not vacate the lower court’s deposition testimony order when the panel granted FirstEnergy Corp.’s petition for mandamus and found that investigatory documents from law firms retained by FirstEnergy are protected by the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine.

  • October 15, 2025

    Judge: Failure To Disclose Executives’ Misconduct Doesn’t Make Statements False

    CAMDEN, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey dismissed investors’ class action complaint alleging a drug design company, its former CEO and former chairman of the board violated federal securities laws by not disclosing the former CEO’s and chairman’s misconduct in public filings about the company’s code of conduct and its fostering of an inclusive workplace, finding that most of the challenged statements were inactionable puffery and that the company’s failure to disclose the misconduct did not render the statements misleading.

  • October 14, 2025

    Hedge Fund Argues High Court Should Find Private Right Of Action In ICA Section

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A hedge fund is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision finding that closed-end funds (CEFs) violated the Investment Company Act of 1940 (ICA) and the appellate court’s finding that Congress intended there to be a private right of action in Section 47(b) of the ICA.

  • October 10, 2025

    2nd Circuit Affirms Finding IPO-Related Risk Statements Covered Upgrade Projects

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the dismissal of investors’ putative class action against a mobile game developer, its executives, board members and underwriters alleging that the registration statement the developer issued in connection with its initial public offering was misleading because the developer did not include information about significant upgrade projects for two of its popular games; the panel found that the allegations were conclusory and that the risk statements in the registration statement covered the upgrade projects.

  • October 09, 2025

    2nd Circuit Clarifies Position On Use Of Outside Allegations In Securities Case

    NEW YORK — A panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a lower court erred when it did not credit investors’ allegations from confidential witnesses and Spanish criminal proceedings in dismissing the investors’ action against a Spanish-headquartered engineering and construction company, its underwriters and several of the company’s officers for allegedly manipulating financial records to conceal its liquidity crisis; the panel said the plaintiffs’ allegations were detailed and independently corroborated.

  • October 09, 2025

    Judge Gives Final OK To $15M Class Settlement In Pipeline Securities Fraud Case

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Oct. 8 gave final approval to a settlement in a securities fraud class action related to the construction of a hydraulic fracturing pipeline, ruling that the deal, which provides a cash payment of $15 million to the plaintiffs, is “in all respects, fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

  • October 08, 2025

    5th Circuit: Conflict Over Securities Class Certification Adequately Addressed

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s interlocutory order that partially granted and partially denied class certification in a case brought by investors in an offshore development company that allegedly made misstatements in connection with a merger that caused the company’s stock to artificially increase, finding the lower court adequately addressed an intraclass conflict by dividing the class into two subclasses.

  • October 07, 2025

    6th Circuit Grants Mandamus Petition In FirstEnergy Bribery Securities Case

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted FirstEnergy Corp.’s petition for mandamus related to an order to compel investigatory documents from law firms retained by FirstEnergy, which was suspected of wrongdoing in a securities bribery scandal; the panel found that the documents are protected by the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine.

  • October 06, 2025

    High Court Won’t Hear Petition On Securities Fraud Materiality Requirement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied an auditor’s petition for a writ of certiorari asking the court to determine when the materiality requirement for securities fraud liability is satisfied.

  • October 06, 2025

    High Court Won’t Address Question Of Nonsignatory Enforcement Of Arbitration

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 declined to hear a trading company’s petition for a writ of certiorari asking the court to determine whether a nonsignatory to an arbitration agreement can compel a signatory to arbitrate a dispute between them to address a split among appellate courts. The trading company sought to arbitrate securities fraud claims brought against it by investors who signed an arbitration agreement with another party to the alleged fraud.

  • October 06, 2025

    Supreme Court Denies Latest Cert Petition In Direct Listing Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied a shareholder’s petition for a writ of certiorari asking the court to determine whether, under federal securities laws, a plaintiff must prove he bought shares registered in an offering for which the company issued false and misleading statements in order to bring a direct listings suit against the company.

  • October 02, 2025

    Judge Finds Investor Failed To Show Oil-Related Fund Made Misstatements About Risk

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted an oil-related exchange traded fund and its managing partner and executive’s motion to dismiss a putative securities fraud class action against them for alleged misstatements made about risks, adverse events, trends and uncertainties that could impact the fund, holding that the investors failed to show that the fund or related parties made misleading statements and did not establish a strong inference of scienter.

  • October 01, 2025

    $15M Deal In Pipeline Securities Fraud Case Endorsed ‘Overwhelmingly,’ Class Says

    PHILADELPHIA — The lead plaintiffs in a long and winding securities fraud class action related to the construction of a hydraulic fracturing pipeline on Sept. 30 filed a reply brief in Pennsylvania federal court seeking final approval of a class action settlement for a cash payment of $15 million on grounds that the agreement has been “overwhelmingly endorsed by the Class.”

  • September 30, 2025

    Judge: Investors Failed To Link Stock Drop To Biotech Company’s Misstatements

    SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California granted a biotechnology company and its subsidiary’s motion to dismiss a securities fraud class action brought by investors alleging that the companies provided misleading information during the company’s acquisition of the subsidiary, finding that the investors did not establish loss causation because they did not link any of the companies’ corrective disclosures to a prior misstatement.

  • September 25, 2025

    Judge Finds Pension Fund Didn’t Allege Stock-Drop Losses Caused By Misstatements

    SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California dismissed a pension fund’s class action complaint against a biopharmaceutical company and certain of its executives after the company’s stock price dropped when a collaborating company ended their collaboration agreement, finding that while it alleged sufficient facts to satisfy falsity and scienter requirements under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the pension fund did not sufficiently allege that its losses were caused by the company’s alleged misstatements.

  • September 24, 2025

    Judge Approves $300,000 Settlement In Securities Action Over False Statements

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a $300,000 settlement in a securities class action brought by investors against an aerospace-based  communication network product company and two of its executives that alleged that the company provided materially false and misleading statements about its production yields and their impact on the company’s revenue growth.

  • September 24, 2025

    2nd Circuit: Financial Services Institutions Owed No Duty To Collapsed Client

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of investors’ allegations that Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. engaged in insider trading by selling stocks before news of a total return swaps client collapse became public, finding that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs owed no fiduciary duty to the client.

  • September 24, 2025

    3rd Circuit Denies Rehearing In Securities Suit Against Reinsurer

    PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied the petition of a reinsurer and three former executives to rehear its decision to vacate a lower court’s discovery and summary judgment rulings in investors’ suit against the reinsurer and executives over allegations that they violated federal securities laws by omitting historical loss ratios from loss reserves disclosures; the panel had found that the omitted historical loss ratios were material and that discovery had not been completed.

  • September 22, 2025

    J&J, Amicus Warn Of ‘Problematic’ Talc Securities Class Ruling

    PHILADELPHIA — The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) in a Sept. 19 amicus curiae brief in support of a petition for rehearing warns the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that its ruling holding Johnson & Johnson liable for new “signals” about existing facts threatens the ability to rebut assumptions about the integrity of market pricing with widespread fallout.  Earlier, Johnson & Johnson and certain executives told the court in their petition that the divided opinion will have a “problematic” influence in district court cases involving billions of dollars.