In defending a securities class action, a motion to dismiss is almost automatic, and in virtually all cases, it makes good strategic sense.  In most cases, there are only four main arguments:

  • The complaint hasn’t pleaded a false or misleading statement
  • The challenged statements are protected by the Safe Harbor for forward-looking statements
  • The

Public companies around the country labor under a misunderstanding:  that the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act’s Safe Harbor protects them from liability for their guidance and projections if they simply follow the statute’s requirements.  But the Safe Harbor is not so safe – because they think it goes too far, many judges go to great

As I have previously written, the Sixth Circuit’s erroneous interpretation of the scienter component of the Supreme Court’s decision in Matrixx Initiatives, Inc. v. Siracusano, 131 S. Ct. 1309 (2011), is one of the biggest threats to the protections of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. 

The resulting flawed analysis – which I

I recently had occasion to review a number of motion-to-dismiss rulings, including some in which denial of the motion seemed to be an easy call.  I’ve since been mulling over whether there are circumstances in which it would be strategically advantageous not to make a motion to dismiss in a Reform Act case, or a

The recurring and pervasive problem of flawed confidential witness (“CW”) allegations tops my list of the key issues in securities class action litigation.*  I don’t mean just notorious situations such as those recently at issue in the Lockheed, SunTrust, and Boeing securities class actions – which I discussed in an earlier post and