Corporate & Securities Law

Transatlantic Litigation: ?I sue first?

Posted on February 26, 2011
On Wednesday earlier this week, the New York State Bar Association’s International Section held a seminar in London on the topic of Transatlantic Litigation. I was one of the co-organisers and one of the two speakers. Our aim for the event was to provide a forum for the debate of recent developments in transatlantic litigation, featuring [...

Cornerstone?s Class Actions Reviews 2009

Posted on March 31, 2010
Last week and in January, the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, in cooperation with Cornerstone Research, published two annual securities class action reviews: Filings 2009 and Settlements 2009, respectively. (press releases: filings, settlements) Unfortunately, the settlements review does not separately discuss settlements of cases in which the defendant is a non-US issuer...

Where to go in March

Posted on February 25, 2010
In the next few weeks I will be attending the following events: an LSE lecture and Weil Gotshal webcast on the 4th, Barroway Topaz’ annual conference on the 11th and the NYSBA’s litigation roundtable on the 16th. On 4 March, the London School of Economics and Political Science hosts the fifth and final lunchtime lecture in [...

Opening Kranenburg, my own law practice

Posted on February 24, 2010
It is with great pleasure and pride that I am announcing the opening of my own law practice, Kranenburg. While in law school in London I came across the US area of law of securities fraud class action litigation, but the subject wasn’t taught in class here...

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Reporting on 2009, filings are down

Posted on January 13, 2010
As usual, NERA Economic Consulting and Stanford Law School, in cooperation with Cornerstone Research, have released reports looking back at the year’s securities fraud class action activity (NERA press release, report; Stanford press release, report)...

WV&Z now also on Twitter

Posted on March 02, 2009

Lovells? latest bulletin

Posted on March 01, 2009

WpHG basis for HypoRE damages claims

Posted on January 14, 2009
On 2 October 2007, Hypo Real Estate Holding AG’s (FRA: HRX) shares were trading well above ?40 a share. That day, HRX completed the acquisition of Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG (DEPFA) for more than ?5 billion. (press release) At the close of trading yesterday, the shares were at just above ?2, the combined group worth just [...

Court in session: In re Northern Rock Plc

Posted on January 14, 2009
The trial pitting former shareholders of Northern Rock Plc against the UK Government has kicked off yesterday. (previous post) The Government nationalised the bank early last year and the issue of this judicial review is the level of compensation its shareholders are due under the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008...

European Securities Litigation, the Conference

Posted on January 08, 2009
The alternative name for this post could’ve been “Does exactly what it says on the tin”. (hint) If you’re not familiar with that phrase, translate that to the more straightforward “What you see is what you get”. (explained or watch) For the three events listed below are literally named after their respective programme contents...

Securities class action trends 2008

Posted on December 20, 2008
This week two reports were published, by NERA Economic Consulting and RiskMetrics Group, both covering securities class action litigation trends of the past year. NERA’s 2008 Trends in Securities Class Actions (report, press release) is its annual year-end study of US case filings and settlements...

Sweden evaluates Group Proceedings Act

Posted on December 19, 2008
Earlier this week I came across a 2006 article by Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP’s Laurel J. Harbour and Marc E. Shelley, entitled The Emerging European Class Action: Expanding Multi-Party Litigation To A Shrinking World. Among other things, the Swedish collective action legislation (Lag om grupprättegång, Group Proceedings Act) is discussed therein (from p...

Fortis SA/NV subject of enquiries

Posted on December 01, 2008
The Enterprise Chambers of the Amsterdam Court of Appeals and of the Courts of Brussels both declined to enjoin the transactions that, among other things, saw Fortis SA/NV partially sold off to BNP Paribas. (previous post) The Brussels court issued its decision on 18 November, the Amsterdam court a week later on the 24th...

Wrapping it up, 26 November 2008

Posted on November 26, 2008
One event for in the diary, notes on one that has taken place and updated links here on WV&Z: Grant & Eisenhofer PA’s 8th Global Shareholder Activism Conference (details, programme) takes place in New York from 4-6 December. (The 9th is in London, 23-24 April 2009...

Wachtell Skadden & Gladwell

Posted on November 25, 2008
In a somewhat off-topic post, last night I went to see Malcolm Gladwell live on stage. He’s got a new book out, Outliers, and his untitled hour-long talk was basically an introduction into his book’s theme, subtitled The Story of Success, and mostly the oral presentation of one of the chapters in the book - [...

?Will Aggregate Litigation Come to Europe??

Posted on November 22, 2008
Just earlier this week (in this previous post) I referred to a research paper on res judicata and how the development of collective litigation procedures in various European jurisdictions is arguably one factor in the easing of recognition concerns of US courts...

In re Bayer AG claims deadline near

Posted on November 20, 2008
There are only a few days left to participate in the $18,500,000 In re Bayer AG Securities Litigation (No. 03 cv 1546 SDNY) settlement by filing your proof of claim form (Bayer AG, Xetra: BAY). The deadline is 25 November 2008 (date of postmark). The class is defined as “[a]ll persons or entities who or which [...

?We are not the world?s court?

Posted on November 18, 2008
The issue before the court in Morrison v National Australia Bank was whether to excercise subject matter jurisdiction over the foreign claimants who bought their NAB shares on a foreign exchange. (ASX, LSE, NYSE, NZX: NAB/NABHA) It held that in this case it could not (decision), based on the ‘conduct test’...

Res judicata of US class action judgments

Posted on November 17, 2008
Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP has published its annual 10b-5 Guide (2007) this summer, with thanks to Paul A. Ferrillo for this submission. It includes discussion of two cases that have featured here, one of which is Borochoff v. GlaxoSmithKline PLC (p...

Collective redress, four events (well, five)

Posted on October 19, 2008
In the next few weeks four events will take place, so there’s three dates for your diary. The fifth one has already taken place on the 8th of October, a programme in King & Spalding LLP’s University e-Learn Series, entitled The Globalization of U...

Fulbright?s Fifth

Posted on October 15, 2008
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP today published its latest Annual Litigation Trends Survey Findings, its fifth such report, alongside the data used for the report. (Also see the UK and US press releases.) The survey covers mostly US (251) and UK (100) respondents...

Fortis SA/NV group litigation forthcoming

Posted on October 13, 2008
On the 9th of October last year it was announced that a consortium of three banks had won control over ABN Amro Holding NV of the Netherlands. (FT) Just shy of a year later, one of those three banks, Fortis SA/NV (Euronext: FORA/FORB), has been displaced by the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands...

More class action resources

Posted on October 08, 2008
One of the resources WV&Z has actually already used deserves more credit and a separate mention. In addition to its long-established Stanford Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, Stanford has created the Stanford Global Class Actions Exchange. Whereas the former only provides information on US federal class action securities litigation, the latter sets its sights on any [...

Parmalat SpA?s latest settlement

Posted on May 02, 2008
Today Parmalat SpA (Milan: PLT) announced it has settled the securities class action pending against it (SDNY). It will issue 10.5 million shares - ‘new’ according to AP, ‘existing’ according to WSJ - worth approximately ?24 million to the class...

Country focus: Italy

Posted on May 02, 2008
The laws have changed in Italy to allow for class actions (azione collettiva risarcitoria) from 30 June this year. Since it’s been in the works for years, a lot has been written about it already. WV&Z offers a few resources to get up to speed, starting with material produced by practitioners: PwC (study paragraph, p...

What when where: four in four

Posted on April 21, 2008
In the next four weeks there are no less than four conferences to go to, one a week. They are, in chronological order: Conference on Securities Litigation, 28, 29 April, London (programme) Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment, 6, 7 May, Copenhagen (programme) Global Shareholder Activism Conference, 15, 16 May, Paris (programme) Pension Fund Investment World Nordic 2008, 19, 20 [...

Wrapping it up, 19 April 2008

Posted on April 19, 2008
Three items of note this time, one bulletin, two articles. Lovells LLP’s class action practice has published its latest bulletin (April 2008). Several members of the practice contribute to it, a number writing about the respective European and US jurisdictions in which they practice...

Converium class includes SWX, NYSE

Posted on April 18, 2008
The post I wrote on 16 January 2007 about Converium Reinsurance Co being partially granted and partially denied its motion to dismiss the class action pending against it following its IPO never did find its way here. It was in the earliest days of WV&Z and on the basis of the case I actually went [...

PwC?s 2007 Study, with a foreign flavour

Posted on April 17, 2008
One of the main themes of PricewaterhouseCooper’s 2007 Securities litigation study is in relation to foreign issues, involving both issuers and purchasers. In her introductory observation (page 1 of 77, all pages ‘of 77′), Grace Lamont, Partner and Leader of the Securities Litigation Practice, states among other things that ‘[w]ith the European Union and individual [...

White Paper for collective redress

Posted on April 07, 2008
The European Commission has presented a White Paper on actions for damages, ’suggesting a new model for achieving compensation for consumers and businesses who are the victims of antitrust violations’. One of the key recommendations is that of collective redress in particular for small value claims...

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