Simpson Thacher Wins Dismissal With Prejudice of Dollar General Securities Class Action
On September 25, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee dismissed with prejudice a putative securities class action against Dollar General and certain of its current and former officers, holding that shareholders failed to adequately plead that the defendants acted with the scienter required under the federal securities laws, bringing the case to a close at the district court level.
Plaintiffs’ third amended complaint alleged that, over a four-year period, Dollar General and the individual defendants made statements to the market concealing or downplaying the Company's inventory management and staffing challenges, many of which related to issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Plaintiffs claimed that a series of purported corrective disclosures beginning in 2022 caused declines in the Company's stock price.
This ruling follows the court's June 2025 decision dismissing the second amended complaint without prejudice for failure to plead a strong inference of scienter. After plaintiffs were granted leave to file a further amended complaint, adding allegations from additional former employees, defendants renewed their motion to dismiss. Judge Aleta A. Trauger again concluded that plaintiffs failed to allege facts giving rise to a strong inference of scienter, finding that the allegations were more consistent with operational and business challenges than with securities fraud.
The Simpson Thacher team included Partner Pete Kazanoff, Counsel Amy Dawson and Associates Justin Kane and Ryan Homer.