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The Bulletin - Winter 2021

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  • The COVID-19 Pandemic Does Not Suspend Obligations Under the Federal Securities Laws

    Ryan Degnan

    Significant structural strains on equity markets often expose undisclosed risk lurking in investors’ portfolios. The bursting of the dot-com and housing bubbles in the early and late 2000s, respectively, resulted in significant shareholder litigation under the federal securities laws. These actions...

  • U.S. Supreme Court to Weigh in on Rebutting the Fraud on the Market Presumption

    On December 11, 2020, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. v. Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, a recent decision from the Second Circuit on how defendants are permitted to oppose certification of securities class actions.[1] In Goldman, defendants argued that the...

  • Trying Times For Trials: Delaware Chancery Court Adapts to the Pandemic

    Matthew Benedict

    On Friday, March 13, 2020, attorneys from Kessler Topaz huddled with co-counsel in Wilmington, Delaware, making final preparations for a two-week trial against Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk in the Delaware Court of Chancery. After three-and-a-half years of litigation—during which plaintiffs in In...

  • KTMC Secures Major Legal Victory in CBS Merger Litigation

    Grant Goodhart III

    On January 27, 2021, Vice Chancellor Joseph R. Slights III of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an opinion in In re CBS Corporation Stockholder Class Action and Derivative Litigation, Consolidated C.A. No. 2020-0111-JRS, sustaining all but one of the claims asserted by Co-Lead Counsel KTMC on...

  • Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Stockholders' Rights to Investigate Amerisourcebergen's Opioid Distribution Practices

    On December 10, 2020, the Supreme Court of Delaware issued a landmark ruling affirming the rights of AmerisourceBergen Corp. stockholders to investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the company’s opioid distribution practices.[1] In the process, the Supreme Court also provided a clear...

  • Revisions to Chinese Securities Laws Include More Robust Disclosure Requirements and a Mechanism for Representative Opt-out Shareholder Litigation

    Emily Christiansen

    On March 1, 2020, China’s revised Securities Law went into effect. The revised Securities Law is a major revision to comprehensive securities legislation that first went into effect in China on July 1, 1999 and has been modified only a handful of times since then. In this new revision, over 100...

  • The Eastern District of Virginia Denies State Farm's Motion to Dismiss Business Interruption Claims Resulting from Orders Shutting Down Businesses Due to COVID-19

    Jordan Jacobson

    Kessler Topaz recently achieved a rare success, overcoming efforts by State Farm[1] to dismiss a complaint filed on behalf of Virginia small businesses seeking coverage for business interruption losses resulting from social distancing and/or stay-at-home orders (the “Orders”) in connection with the...