Simpson Thacher has obtained the dismissal of claims asserted against JPMorgan Chase in a securities class action complaint filed on behalf of a putative class of JPMorgan Chase shareholders. Shortly after Enron declared bankruptcy in December 2001, thirteen separate class actions were filed alleging that JPMorgan Chase and certain of its directors and officers had violated the securities laws, including Sections 10(b) and 14(a) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, and Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 . In their Complaint, plaintiffs alleged that JPMorgan Chase had misstated its Enron-related exposure, improperly accounted for certain of its Enron-related transactions, and issued false and misleading analyst reports.
On March 28, 2005, Judge Sidney Stein of the Southern District of New York dismissed the Complaint in its entirety. The Court held that Plaintiffs had failed as a matter of law to allege a single material misstatement, a key element of each of plaintiffs' claims. In addition, the court found most of the Section 10(b) allegations to be further deficient on the separate and independent ground that plaintiffs failed to plead scienter with particularity as required by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
The Simpson Thacher team representing JPMorgan Chase in this matter included Bruce Angiolillo, Tom Rice, George Wang, Ronnell Wilson, Marcia Griffith, and former associates Paige Petersen, Jessica Kaplan and Noam Mandel.