Securities And Derivative Litigation: Report

Key Takeaways

• Meme Stock and Pump-and-Dump Class Actions. Courts remain pided on whether social media driven stock-price movements can satisfy market-efficiency requirements for class certification. 
• Damages Proof at Class Certification (Boeing and First Energy). The Fourth Circuit’s reversal of class certification in Boeing is a significant win for defendants, holding that plaintiffs must present an actual, case-specific damages methodology to satisfy Comcast v. Behrend. Defendants should leverage this decision to challenge underdeveloped expert damages models at the class certification stage. The Sixth Circuit will soon weigh in on First Energy.
• SEC Disgorgement Without Proof of Investor Harm (Sripetch v. Securities and Exchange Commission). The Supreme Court unanimously heldthat the SEC may recover a wrongdoer’s unlawful profits through disgorgement, without proving that inpidual investors suffered a specific financial loss. Although Sripetch broadens the SEC’s disgorgement