This year, on the heels of its rulings in Erica P. John Fund, Inc. v. Halliburton (2011) and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes (2011), the Supreme Court has issued several opinions affecting securities fraud litigation. Of particular note, Amgen, Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds held that proof of materiality was not required at the class certification stage for an action based on the fraud-on-the-market (FOTM) theory.
This webcast will examine the Supreme Court’s decision in Amgen, including the implications of four Justices suggesting a willingness to revisit whether the FOTM presumption of reliance is still proper. Any rulings affecting the viability of this theory could have a dramatic effect on securities litigation.
This webcast will also discuss other recent Supreme Court cases and how they could affect parties in both private securities class actions and government enforcement actions:
• Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, (an antitrust case), which required proof of classwide damages at the certification stage, may also affect securities class actions.
• Gabelli v. SEC limited the “discovery rule” for statute of limitations to non government enforcement actions.
• The Court’s upcoming ruling in Chadbourne & Parke LLP v. Troice will address the scope of SLUSA’s “in connection with” requirement.
The panel will feature Jordan Eth and Deanne E. Maynard, partners at Morrison & Foerster LLP; and Dr. David Tabak, senior vice president at NERA. Mr. Eth is co-chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Securities Litigation, Enforcement, and White-Collar Defense Practice Group. Ms. Maynard is the chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Appellate and Supreme Court Practice Group, and a former Assistant to the Solicitor General at the United States Department of Justice. Mr. Eth and Ms. Maynard have authored several amicus briefs in securities cases pending before the Supreme Court. Dr. Tabak is a member of the Securities and Finance Practice at NERA in New York. In the area of securities class actions, Dr. Tabak has testified on topics including class certification, liability, materiality, affected trading volume, and damage calculations in cases with allegations such as improper valuations, accounting irregularities, and merger disputes.
To attend this webcast (the live webcast is scheduled for Wednesday, July 24, 2013 at 1 pm Eastern), please register below.
