Litigation

Defense Verdict in JDS Uniphase Trial

By Bruce Nye

There is probably no  jury verdict more likely to strike fear in the hearts of board members and officers everywhere than a securities trial verdict.  The amounts at stake are nearly always mind-boggling, the cases involve concepts not exactly familiar to your average juror, and the defendant corporations and officers -- well, they don't usually start the race with a leg up.  Perhaps that is why these cases so rarely go to trial.

But the case against JDS Uniphase just did.  The fiber optics manufacturer was sued by the State of Connecticut, which claimed that investors lost $18 billion because JDS failed to timely disclose that demand for its products was falling.  And after two days of deliberations in Federal Court in Oakland, the jury returned with a defense verdict. 

Update:  WSJ.com law blog reports on the verdict, and describes a securities fraud class-action trial as "rare as a pygmy marmoset."

Full post as published by CalBizLit on November 27, 2007 (boomark / email).