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Simpson Thacher Obtains Denial of Class Certification in Securities Action

05.15.17
In a rare denial of class certification in a federal securities action, U.S. District Court Judge William H. Pauley III of the Southern District of New York denied certification of a putative class of purchasers of five mutual funds asserting Rule 10b-5 claims against Simpson Thacher client Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. The Court held that the plaintiffs were not entitled to any presumption of class-wide reliance. Without a presumption of reliance, each member of the putative class would have to prove reliance individually and individual issues of reliance would predominate, making class certification under Rule 23(b)(3) inappropriate. The Simpson Thacher team is Joseph M. McLaughlin (who argued the motion), George S. Wang, Daniel J. Stujenske, Joshua M. Slocum, Shannon K. McGovern, Meredith D. Karp, Jamie J. Fell and Daniel J. Cohen.