Publications

This month’s Alert discusses the Supreme Court’s decision in Matrixx rejecting a statistical significance standard for the disclosure of adverse event reports, as well as the Southern District of New York‘s decision in the Sanofi-aventis litigation applying the Matrixx ruling. This Alert also addresses four more decisions from the Southern District of New York: one dismissing two double derivative actions against Merrill Lynch’s directors and officers; another dismissing Section 10(b) claims arising out of the collapse of Wachovia Corporation; one addressing the use of “neither admit nor deny” language in Securities & Exchange Commission (“SEC”) settlements; and finally, a decision dismissing a shareholder derivative suit against Morgan Stanley’s board of directors and several executive officers.

This Alert also covers the Third Circuit’s decision in favor of the bright-line attribution rule for secondary actor liability under Section 10(b); the Northern District of California’s rejection of the “listing theory” of Section 10(b) liability; a Southern District of Texas decision dismissing the Franklin Bank subprime suit; and a Northern District of Texas decision dismissing the MetroPCS Communications class action.

Finally, from the Delaware courts, we discuss the allocation of plaintiffs’ counsel fees in the Allion litigation, and the Chancery Court’s decision adopting the findings of special counsel in a collusion inquiry arising out of the Nighthawk Radiology-Virtual Radiologic merger litigation settlement.