This Week At The Ninth: SLUSA And U.S. Waters

This week, we take a look at two Ninth Circuit decisions wrestling with issues of statutory interpretation.  In the first, the Court considered the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act's prohibition of state-law claims that might have been brought as federal securities actions, in a case in which the plaintiff actually did also bring federal securities-fraud claims.  In the second, a divided Ninth Circuit panel addressed exactly what a defendant must "know" to be convicted under the Clean Water Act for knowingly discharging a prohibited substance into the waters of the United States. 

ANDERSON v. EDWARD D. JONES & CO., L.P.
The Court holds that a state-law claim concerning a securities broker's improper fees does not allege a misrepresentation "in connection with the purchase or sale of a covered security," and thus is not barred by the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act (SLUSA).