I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend. This week, we take a brief look at a number of opinions that were decided last week, none of which are revolutionary, but all of which are useful to defendants at some stage of the class action. Think of it like a Memorial Day barbecue, a
interrogatories
Class Action Litigation FAQ – Part I
By The Editors on
Posted in Discovery
As you may know, most bloggers have some kind of service that provides a statistical analysis of their site. In addition to telling us how many of you visit, and what you read, and whether you come back, these services also tell us what searches bring (some of) you here. And, over the last year…
Investment Strategies and Securities Class Actions
By The Editors on
Posted in Certification, Discovery
I’ve talked before about the problem of circularity in securities class actions. Briefly put:
[A] securities class action takes money from the firm, and pays it to the shareholders, minus costs and attorneys’ fees. The hitch is that the firm is owned by the shareholders, which means that the attorneys have just taken money
…
Defending Pseudo-Fraud Cases – Noel v. Hudd Dist Servs. Inc.
By The Editors on
Posted in Certification
In the last few years, statutory non-disclosure have become more common among class-action filings. They allow the plaintiffs to assert fraud-like claims that can arouse public (or judicial) sympathy, without necessarily having to worry about proving individualized reliance the way they would if they had alleged a common-law fraud claim.
A recent case, Noel v.
In re Netbank – Confidential Witness Interrogatories
By The Editors on
Posted in Discovery
Plaintiffs in securities class actions often use "confidential witnesses" in their complaints to substantiate various allegations. The practice makes some sense at the complaint stage: it allows the plaintiff to plead fraud and loss causation with the specificity required by the PSLRA, without exposing potential witnesses to backlash from their employer should…
Fighting Fishing Expeditions, Part II: The Prima Facie Objection
By The Editors on
Posted in Discovery
Since I first wrote about fighting fishing expeditions, Google has sent a number of readers to the blog looking for “fishing expeditions discovery” or “deny class certification discovery abuse.” (It also sent one reader looking for “botulism,” which I’m proud to say is not available here.) Clearly, fighting fishing expeditions in class actions is…