Institutional Investor Class Action Recovery

With the increasing barriers to successfully prosecuting a securities fraud case in the United States, including the jurisdictional limitations caused by the Morrison decision, institutional investors are sometimes now looking to other jurisdictions to sometime recover their losses. 

The Southern District of Ohio recently reached an interesting decision that may be relevant to institutional investors in Pharos Capital Partners, L.P. v. Touche, L.L.P. (In re Nat’l Century Fin. Enters.), 905 F. Supp. 2d 814 (S.D. Ohio 2012).

The United States Court of Federal Claims recently issued an Order in Starr International Company, Inc. v. United States, No. 11-779C, regarding the consequences of an intentional waiver of the attorney-client privilege by the United States Government.

We posted on June 11 about some novel arguments used by Vivendi Universal, S.A. (“Vivendi”) as part of its defense against Southeastern Asset Management, Inc. (“Southeastern”), a class member in In re Vivendi Universal, S.A. Securities Litigation, 02 Civ. 5571 (SAS) (S.D.N.Y.).

The long-running In re Vivendi Universal, S.A. Securities Litigation, 02 Civ. 5571 (SAS) (S.D.N.Y.), recently took an interesting turn as defendant Vivendi Universal, S.A. has deployed some unusual arguments in opposing the recovery of certain class-action members.

A Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts recently issued a Report and Recommendation ("R&R") on the Lead Plaintiffs’ Motion for Final Approval of Class Action Settlement and Plan of Allocation in Hill v. State Street Corporation.

On March 19, 2015, in what can be characterized as terse and sternly worded Memorandum Order (the “Order”), Judge Swain of the Southern District denied a Motion to Sever Individual Claims (the “Motion to Sever”) filed by three funds managed by D. E. Shaw & Co (the “D. E. Shaw Funds”). 

In the context of our representation of institutional investors, our experience reveals that they have been confronting an increasingly difficult process in recovering their losses from alleged violations of securities laws.