Almost every proposed corporate merger is met with a shareholder suit against the acquiring company, merger target and the target's board of directors in which the shareholders assert that the board breached its fiduciary duties by failing to maximize the value of the company and disseminated proxy statements that contained inadequate disclosures. In a recent case - Dent v. Ramtron International Corp., CIV.A. 7950-VCP, 2014 WL 2931180 (Del. Ch. June 30, 2014) - the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed such a shareholder suit, and in doing so provided a detailed explanation of the ...
The SEC recently made the unusual move of asking the Eleventh Circuit to publish its previously-unpublished per curiam decision in SEC v. Monterosso, 2014 WL 2922670 (11th Cir. June 30, 2014). The decision was not merely a win for the Staff, who presumably sought publication due to the Court's unwarranted language purporting to limit the Supreme Court's Janus precedent only to cases explicitly charged solely under Rule 10b-5(b). In Monterosso, the Commission's Enforcement Staff pursued civil prosecution of three individuals who - in their roles as the issuer's COOs and officers of ...
It is obvious that broker-dealers and their registered representatives, as well as investment advisors, must be careful in making recommendations to their clients. But the rise of claims related to inaction in a client account should also give members of the securities industry cause for concern. In particular, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and other critics have begun to focus their attention on "reverse churning," a claim arising from an allegation that a registered representative or investment ...
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court released its decision in Halliburton Co. v. Erica B. John Fund, Inc., (U.S., No. 13-317)( Halliburton II), and for a second time vacated a decision by the Fifth Circuit on whether the case should proceed as a class action. The plaintiff in the Halliburton case alleges that defendants made misrepresentations that were designed to inflate Halliburton's stock price in violation of § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5. In Halliburton II, in seeking reverse the lower court's ...
On June 23, 2014, BrokerCheck Information makes publicly available information regarding investment-related civil action(s) brought by a state or foreign financial regulatory authority dismissed pursuant to a settlement agreement about former associated persons of a FINRA member firm that were registered on or after August 16, 1999. Established in 1988, the public disclosure program known as BrokerCheck assists investors in making informed choices about the individuals and firms with which they conduct business. Past settlements will now be disclosed publicly for ...