This month’s Alert reviews the most notable securities litigation decisions of 2013. From the Supreme Court, we discuss the Court’s holdings in Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans & Trust Funds, 133 S. Ct. 1184 (2013) (Ginsburg, J.); Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles, 133 S. Ct. 1345 (2013) (Breyer, J.); and Gabelli v. SEC, 133 S. Ct. 1216 (2013) (Roberts, C.J.). We also address a dozen of the most interesting circuit court decisions of 2013.
Looking ahead to 2014, we discuss the following securities litigation-related cases currently pending before the Court: Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund (No. 13-317), in which the Court will consider the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance set forth in Basic Inc. v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224 (1988); and the Stanford Ponzi scheme cases—Chadbourne & Parke LLP v. Troice (No. 12-79); Proskauer Rose LLP v. Troice (No. 12-88); and Willis of Colorado Inc. v. Troice (No. 12-86)—in which the Court will address the “in connection with” requirement of the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act (“SLUSA”).
On December 13, 2013, the Court granted certiorari in two cases of interest to securities litigators. In Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer (No. 12-751), the Court will consider whether ERISA plaintiffs must “plausibly allege … that the fiduciaries of an employee stock ownership plan (‘ESOP’)… abused their discretion by remaining invested in employer stock, in order to overcome the presumption that [the fiduciaries’] decision to invest in employer stock was reasonable.” In Loughrin v. United States (No. 13-316), the Court will consider whether, in a federal bank fraud case brought under 18 U.S.C. § 1344, “the Government must prove that the defendant intended to defraud a bank and expose it to risk of loss.” We will discuss both cases in the January 2014 edition of the Alert.
We wish you and yours the happiest of holidays, and a wonderful new year.