Securities Law Alert, July 2012
This month’s Alert addresses three circuit court decisions: a First Circuit ruling affirming the dismissal of a securities fraud suit against Boston Scientific Corporation; a Second Circuit decision reinstating a securities fraud suit against Grant Thornton in connection with its audit of Winstar Communications’ 1999 financial statements; and an Eleventh Circuit ruling affirming judgment as a matter of law in favor of the defendants in the BankAtlantic subprime action.
We also discuss two Southern District of New York decisions applying the Supreme Court’s holding in Morrison v. National Australia Bank: one denying the defendants’ motion for summary judgment in an SEC action concerning transactions between foreign investment funds; and the other addressing when Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) claims implicate an extraterritorial application of the RICO statute.
Finally, we cover two recent district court decisions addressing the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”): one holding that the Dodd-Frank Act’s anti-retaliation provision does not apply extraterritorially; and the other holding that the Dodd-Frank Act amendment to Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to include employees of subsidiaries of public companies applies retroactively.