By Porter Wright on Part One It is quite common for members of a recently formed LLC accustomed to a corporate governance structure (that is, one having directors, a board of directors and officers versus members and managers) to direct their attorney to draft their operating agreement so that the LLC will have a corporate governance structure too. The … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) detailed new rules that would focus investigations of corporations on responsible individuals and warned that companies cannot abuse the attorney-client privilege to hide key facts in criminal investigations. On Monday, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who issued the so-called Yates Memoranda in September, detailed DOJ policy on how the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The SEC has proposed rules that require the securities exchanges to adopt rules that in turn require listed companies to adopt, disclose and comply with a clawback policy for executive compensation based on erroneous financial statements. The new rules would apply to almost all companies listed on a securities exchange (such as NASDAQ and NYSE), … Continue Reading
By Bob Tannous on On April 29, 2015, pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3 to 2 to approve a proposed amendment to executive compensation rules in Item 402 of Regulation S-K. The proposed amendment directs the SEC to adopt rules requiring registrants to disclose in … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Opinions in registration statements continue to be one of the most commonly litigated items under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Section 11”). On March 24, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court in Omnicare, Inc. v. Laborers District Council Construction Industry Pension Fund clarified a lower court split in the application of Section 11 … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on A recent Sixth Circuit case, interpreting Ohio law, found that a merger agreement stating that the representations and warranties “shall survive…the Closing until… the second anniversary date of the Closing…,” without more, was not sufficient to modify the statute of limitations for breach of contract claims related to the merger agreement. Fortunately, this issue can … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on It has been more than two years since the JOBS Act was passed and almost nine months since the SEC proposed crowdfunding rules — but still no final rules. Should entrepreneurs care? Probably not. The proposed SEC rules are burdensome. The rules limit the total amount raised to $1 million in any rolling 12-month period, … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on When asked to approve a $90 million settlement (which was to be paid by insurance coverage) between class action plaintiffs and the directors and officers in the In re: Lehman Bros. Sec. and ERISA Litig., Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a May 3, 2012 Memorandum and Order directing certain defendants (five officers), who had already allowed … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Monday, April 23, 2012, the SEC announced that it had filed a case against SinoTech Energy Limited, an oil field services company based in China, with intentionally misleading investors about the value of its assets and its use of $120 million in IPO proceeds. The SEC also charged CEO Guoqiang Xin and former CFO … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Monday, April 2, 2012, the SEC announced that it has filed suit in federal court in Austin, Texas against Michael A. Baker, the former CEO of ArthroCare Corporation, and Michael Gluk, the former CFO, to recover bonus compensation and stock sale profits they received during an accounting fraud at the company. As the SEC … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On March 27, 2012, the SEC announced that it has sued John Cinderey, a former executive vice president at United Commercial Bank for aiding and abetting securities law violations relating to falsifying books and records and misleading the bank’s auditors. The Commission settled with Mr. Cinderey, who agreed to be permanently enjoined from violating provisions … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Normally, when the SEC posts a Litigation Release on its website, it announces a new case which it has filed, or settlement or judgment in a previously-announced case. One of the SEC’s Litigation Releases posted on March 19, 2012 was unique in that it did not announce any of those usual events, but instead was … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Tuesday, March 13, 2012, the SEC announced that it had filed claims against the CEO, CFO and Chief Accounting Officer of Thornburg Mortgage Inc., which used to be one of the nation’s largest mortgage companies, alleging that the three executives hid "the company’s deteriorating financial condition at the onset of the financial crisis" in the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In an Opinion and Order dated February 23, 2012, Judge Michael Mosman adopted the January 11, 2012 Findings and Recommendations of Magistrate Judge John Acosta to dismiss the derivative lawsuit against the Board of Directors of Umpqua Holdings Corporation ("Umpqua") for breach of fiduciary duty. Magistrate Judge Acosta recommendation to dismiss the say-on-pay" lawsuit was … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Another chapter ended in the series of FCPA criminal prosecutions arising out of the TSKJ Joint Venture this week, when Texas federal Judge Keith P. Ellison sentenced three men for their role in the portion of the case involving Kellogg Brown & Root. On Thursday, February 23, 2012, former KBR executive, Albert "Jack" Stanley was … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Monday, January 30, 2012, the SEC filed two lawsuits in federal court in Indiana and commenced two administrative proceedings stemming from an accounting fraud scheme at the Thornton Precision Components ("TPC"), which is the Sheffield, England subsidiary of Symmetry Medical Inc. ("Symmetry"), an Indiana-based manufacturer of medical devices and aerospace products. According to the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On January 11, 2012, Magistrate Judge John Acosta recommended the dismissal of the derivative lawsuit against the Board of Directors of Umpqua Holdings Corporation ("Umpqua") for breach of fiduciary duty. The lawsuit was filed after the shareholders, in an advisory vote, rejected the Board-approved executive compensation program. The Magistrate Judge found that the plaintiffs failed … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Two unique insider trading cases have received a bit of attention recently. One case, brought on December 12, 2011 against a company and its former CEO, alleged that they defrauded shareholders by buying back stock at severely undervalued stock prices – at a time when the company was privately held. The second, brought on January … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Today and tomorrow, the Federal Securities Litigation Blog will take a break from discussing the most recent events and, with a larger-than-usual entry, examine the Top 10 securities litigation stories that were the most intriguing in 2011. Undoubtedly, others will be preparing similar lists and this is not intended to be a definitive or complete … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Tuesday, November 15, 2011, the SEC announced that it had reached a settlement with Maynard L. Jenkins, the former chief executive officer of CSK Auto Corporation, who agreed to re-pay approximately $2.8 million of the over $4 million in bonus compensation and stock profits that he received while the company was committing accounting fraud. … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Wednesday November 2, 2011, several media outlets reported on the details of the settlement in the shareholders derivative action filed against executives of Chesapeake Energy Corporation. The case, which was filed in state court in Oklahoma in April 2009, was on appeal after the claims were dismissed in February 2010. Under the terms of … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In an October 13, 2011 Opinion that carefully considers the language of two insurance policies, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Office Depot, Inc. was not entitled to coverage for most of the legal fees incurred by the company while responding to inquiries from the SEC. In-house counsel would be wise to review their … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on A pair of articles appeared this week that traced trends in particular areas of securities enforcement. The Wall Street Journal presented data showing an increase in the length of sentences in insider trading cases over the last eighteen years. A second article which appeared in Corporate Counsel suggested that the SEC’s settlement of a case … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In a September 20, 2011 Opinion, Judge Timothy Black of the Southern District of Ohio ruled that a lawsuit brought against senior executives and directors of Cincinnati Bell, Inc. alleging a breach of fiduciary duty regarding compensation would be allowed to proceed. The lawsuit focuses on the "say-on-pay" provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act: specifically, attacking … Continue Reading
