Mealey's Securities

  • November 04, 2026

    Judge Limits Fees In $47.75M Hawaiian Electric Securities Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted final approval of a $47.75 million settlement to end a securities class action alleging that Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. (HEI) and certain executives inflated the company’s stock price by misleading investors about its efforts to mitigate wild fire risk before the August 2023 Maui fires but cut the amount of requested attorney fees from 30% of the fund to 20% after finding problems with the counsel’s billing.

  • November 03, 2026

    Investors Appeal Dismissal Of Securities Fraud Suit Against Clinical Company

    NEW YORK — Pension funds appealed to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a federal judge’s dismissal of their putative securities fraud class action against a clinical development and commercialization services company and certain of its former executives for allegedly misrepresenting the profitability of contracts awarded before the company was spun off from another company and its plans to reduce operational expenses.

  • November 02, 2026

    4th Circuit Won’t Reconsider Boeing Class Certification Decision

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a request from investors to rehear the court’s decision to reverse class certification in their securities fraud suit against The Boeing Co. and its former officials over alleged misstatements about the company’s emphasis on safety that artificially inflated the company’s stock price.

  • November 02, 2026

    Court Vacates Subpoena Ruling, Issues AI Rules In Fracking-Securities Case

    TYLER, Texas — In a pair of rulings in a securities case involving promotion of fracking and COVID-19 virus products, a federal magistrate judge granted a motion for reconsideration, vacating a ruling after he was told he erroneously found that a party failed to respond to a motion to quash a third-party subpoena.  Meanwhile, the judge in the case said that going forward all parties must certify whether they used artificial intelligence in drafting filings and that the court may ignore anything not generated by a human.

  • October 30, 2026

    Pension Funds Sue Insurance, Reinsurance Company Over Concealed Casualty Risks

    NEW YORK — Two pension funds filed a securities class action against a Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance company and four executives in New York federal court, alleging that they misled investors about the adequacy of the company’s casualty loss reserves, concealed risks associated with its underwriting practices and overstated earnings, resulting in investor and shareholder losses.

  • October 29, 2026

    Brokerage Firm, Investors Clash After U.S. Pushes High Court Review

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — After the federal government urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that investors do not need to show that omitted interim financial information rendered an affirmative statement misleading to state a claim under Section 11(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, a brokerage firm and investors filed competing supplemental briefs disputing whether the appellate court improperly equated material omissions with misleading statements.

  • October 27, 2026

    1st Circuit Finds Investment Firm Unduly Delayed Bid To Amend Complaint

    BOSTON — A First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s denial of an investment firm’s motion for leave to amend its complaint stemming from a biopharmaceutical company’s rights agreement because the firm waited for the outcome of related litigation before asserting a theory that could have been pleaded earlier.

  • October 27, 2026

    5th Circuit: Market Efficiency Error Halts Securities Fraud Class Certification

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated the class certification order in a securities fraud class action against a biopharmaceutical company and certain of its executives, finding that the lower court did not properly assess evidence of market inefficiency.

  • October 22, 2026

    Panel Modifies Order Granting Judgment In $228M Insurer-Backed Securities Suit

    NEW YORK — A New York appellate court modified a lower court order to grant summary judgment and dismissed claims against defendants except the original issuers of $228 million in preferred securities whose source of payment was insurance company subsidiaries, finding in part that there is no contractual basis to impose liability on certain successors.

  • October 16, 2026

    Bill Concerning ‘Adequate Consideration’ For ESOPs Signed Into Law

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A short bill that President Donald J. Trump signed into law on Oct. 15 amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to address the much-litigated question of what constitutes “adequate consideration” in employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) transactions.

  • October 09, 2026

    Judge Allows Investor’s Claims Against Platform Operator To Move Forward

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois allowed an investor’s putative securities fraud class action against a social media marketing platform operator and four of its executives to continue, finding that the investor plausibly alleged the defendants made material misstatements about the company’s business operations and future prospects.

  • October 09, 2026

    6th Circuit Says CEA Does Not Preempt State Sports Event Contract Regulation

    CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel deepened the split regarding whether the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) preempts states’ regulation of sports-related event contracts that are traded on federally regulated contract markets, holding in two cases heard together that KalshiEX LLC “has not shown that its sports-event contracts satisfy the statutory definition of a ‘swap’ so as to fall within the scope of the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction.’"

  • October 09, 2026

    U.S. Urges Supreme Court To Review Section 11 Disclosure Standard

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an amicus curiae brief, federal government urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling on Section 11(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, arguing that the appellate court erred in finding the materiality of omitted interim financial information to be sufficient without also determining whether the omission caused an affirmative statement to be misleading.

  • October 09, 2026

    Judge Finds Investors Failed To Plead Misstatements, Scienter In Stock-Drop Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted a motion to dismiss a securities fraud class action brought by investors against a technology company and certain of its executives, finding that the investors failed to allege materially false or misleading statements about the business underlying their claims that the company’s stock price dropped after the company’s financial condition was revealed.

  • October 09, 2026

    Judge Denies Summary Judgment On Crypto Investors’ Unregistered Securities Claims

    DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan denied investors’ motion for partial summary judgment as to their federal and state claims for unregistered offer and sale of securities against a cryptocurrency company for allegedly inducing them to purchase tokens and refusing to hand over the digital tokens the investors purchased, finding that genuine factual disputes precluded a determination that the cryptocurrency company qualified as a statutory seller under federal securities laws.

  • October 08, 2026

    Judge Finds Investor’s Securities Act Claim Impermissibly Extraterritorial

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted an investor’s motion for reconsideration of the dismissal of its Securities Act claim against a technology company and certain of its executives and directors but left the dismissal intact after holding that the investor’s acquisition of the company’s securities through an Australian transaction was impermissibly extraterritorial under federal securities law.

  • October 08, 2026

    3rd Circuit Abrogates Materiality Rule, Vacates Dismissal Of Stock Drop Suit

    PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a lower court’s dismissal of investors’ class action alleging that a biotechnology company and its top officer misled investors through certain financial disclosures that when corrected caused the stock’s price to drop, finding that the lower court relied on a categorical materiality rule when dismissing the case after the U.S. Supreme Court held that categorical rules cannot be used in a materiality analysis.

  • October 08, 2026

    Judge Again Dismisses Shareholders’ Claims Over Post-Turnaround Strategy

    NEW YORK — A federal judge dismissed shareholders’ second amended putative class action complaint alleging that a software company and two former and current executives misled investors about the success of their turnaround strategy before the company’s stock price dropped when the strategy was found to be unsuccessful, finding that the shareholders’ claims failed to sufficiently plead scienter.

  • October 08, 2026

    6th Circuit Denies Freddie Mac’s Rehearing Bid In Revived Securities Fraud Case

    CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.’s (Freddie Mac) petition to rehear its decision reviving a securities fraud suit brought by a pension fund; the panel had vacated the lower court’s denial of class certification and directed the lower court to allow the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) to file a new motion.

  • October 08, 2026

    Judge Again Finds Investors’ Fraud Allegations Against Dollar General Lacked Scienter

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge in Tennessee granted Dollar General Corp. and certain former executives’ motion to dismiss investors’ putative securities fraud class action regarding alleged misstatements made about the staffing and stocking of its stores, finding that the third amended complaint failed to plead facts that would support a strong inference of scienter.

  • October 07, 2026

    Judge Allows Stanley Black & Decker Stock-Drop Class Action To Move Forward

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut denied dismissal of a lead plaintiff retirement fund’s putative class action against Stanley Black & Decker Inc. and three of its former executives for allegedly misleading investors about customer demand for the company’s products and causing the company’s stock price to drop, finding the retirement fund plausibly alleged material misstatements about consumer demand and inventory levels.

  • October 06, 2026

    SEC Proposes Changes To Address Crypto Asset Custody Under Investment Rules

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules and amendments to provide a framework for the custody of crypto assets for investment advisers, investment companies and business development companies.

  • October 05, 2026

    Supreme Court Won’t Resolve Claimed Inflation-Maintenance Circuit Split

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 5 denied Zillow Group Inc. and its executives’ petition for a writ of certiorari arguing that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals applied the wrong standard when it affirmed class certifications in a securities fraud case, choosing not to address what Zillow characterized as a circuit split over rebutting the presumption of reliance at the class-certification stage.

  • October 01, 2026

    Investors Fail To Plead Scienter In Fraud Suit Against Clinical Research Company

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York dismissed pension funds’ putative class action against a clinical development and commercialization services company and certain of its former executives for allegedly making misrepresentations about the profitability of certain pre-spin investment projects and the company’s plans to reduce operational expenses after the company was spun off from another company, finding that the pension funds failed to plead their allegations with the requisite scienter.

  • September 30, 2026

    7th Circuit Issues Mandate After Denying Rehearing In ‘Channel Stuffing’ Appeal

    CHICAGO — After denying rehearing, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued its mandate in a securities case in which it affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of investors’ putative securities fraud class action against an animal health product producer and two of its executives.