LA Times, "Class actions feel effects of Milberg case"

As famed class-action lawyer William S. Lerach steps before a federal judge in Los Angeles today to learn his sentence in a wide-ranging fraud and conspiracy probe, his misdeeds and those of former colleagues may be helping to alter the way securities law is practiced. "There's heightened concern," said San Francisco lawyer Richard Heimann, who represents plaintiffs in securities class actions. Fund managers who have approached him want reassurance "that there weren't any skeletons in our closet," he said, often asking for written declarations from prospective lawyers that they have not been indicted or disciplined by the bar. More...

California Lawyer, Securities Litigation Roundtable

Despite the drop in the number of securities cases, and some of the larger cases, such as Enron and WorldCom coming to a close, litigators remain busy: A good number are certainly involved in the flood of stock options cases that have been making headline news, and stock options task forces are now de rigueur at many firms.

Our panel of experts discuss the role of the institutional investor, whether big securities cases are winding down, the impact of the Delaware Court of Chancery's decision in stock options cases, and a case pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. Included on the panel is Richard M. Heimann of Lieff Cabraser. Read the Roundtable Discussion.

Associated Press, "Backdating has cost $100 billion study says"

Shareholders of stock in companies caught up in the backdating scandal have lost at least $100 billion, by one measure, since backdating was first covered in The Wall Street Journal, according to an academic study released Wednesday. The study measured the performance of 110 stocks in a Journal database of companies with backdating problems. The study measured the stocks’ daily returns versus the returns that would have been expected based on the stocks’ historical correlation to the wider market. More...

The Anchorage Daily News, "State collects big in fraud case"

The state this past week settled its investment fraud lawsuit against Time Warner and its subsidiary AOL, bringing in almost $50 million for state coffers. More...

Business Week, "Alaska settles with AOL, Time Warner"

The state of Alaska has settled a securities fraud case for $50 million against America Online, Inc., Time Warner Inc. and Historic TW Inc. The state filed the lawsuit in 2004 in Juneau Superior Court, claiming that the companies misrepresented advertising revenues and growth of AOL and AOLTW, along with the number of AOL subscribers. More...

New York Sun, "Time Warner Case Finds A Surprise"

A $2.5 billion settlement of class-action securities lawsuits against Time Warner was hailed as one of the biggest in history when it was announced last year, but some who decided to opt out of the deal are faring much better than those who took it. More...

Associated Press, "Investors react negatively to Apple disclosure; Need to restate earnings over stock options issues drive shares down"

As the stock option cloud over Apple Computer Inc. darkened, investors tried to determine Friday whether the company’s popular products are powerful enough to overcome the potential accounting and legal risks facing the maker of the iPod and the Macintosh. More...

The Business Review (Albany), "Hevesi files $250M suit against Qwest, Arthur Andersen"

State Comptroller Alan Hevesi has filed a securities fraud lawsuit against Qwest Communications International Inc. and its auditor, Arthur Andersen, for $250 million to recoup losses suffered by the state Common Retirement Fund. Hevesi said they lost the money as a result of phoney accounting practices that inflated Qwest's stock price. More...

Los Angeles Times, "Securities Suits Down in 2005, Study Says"

The number of securities class-action such suits in 2005 dropped 17% to 176 last year, the lowest total since 1997, according to an annual report by Boston-based Cornerstone Research and Stanford Law School. The highest number in recent years, 239 suits, came in 1998. The stock price volatility that came with the tech boom of the late 1990s contributed to big claims by investors who alleged mismanagement, the study's authors said. Tighter corporate governance laws and a quieter market also might have played a role in last year's drop in litigation, they said. More...

Forbes, "Hedge Hell"

Alex Brown likes to steep itself in its two centuries of history, proud to have financed the nation's first water utilities and railroads. But two new lawsuits paint a disturbingly different picture of America's oldest investment bank, alleging fraud, mismanagement, inept options trading and conflicts of interest. Even more surprising is the source of the suits: several dozen executives at Yahoo, Ask Jeeves and other big-name firms. More...

Wall Street Journal, "Investor Suit Alleges Deutsche Bank Failed To Diversify"

A number of investors in two former Deutsche Bank AG investment funds filed suit against the company and several of its units, alleging mismanagement and concealment of material adverse information. More...

CNBC/MSN Money, "How mutual funds stole your money"

As new allegations of Wall Street wrongdoing surface virtually every day, it's hard to escape the conclusion that three years of manic-depressive stock prices, major corporate bankruptcies, and the prosecution of analysts, insider-trading and IPO frauds did nothing to inhibit a pervasive culture of corruption in much of the mutual fund industry. More...

Reuters, "Charges vs ex-Prudential brokers may stick"

Civil fraud charges against former Prudential Securities brokers accused of market timing mutual funds will likely stick even if the practice itself is not illegal, lawyers said on Thursday. Federal and state securities said in legal complaints filed on Tuesday that the brokers changed their identities to disguise market timing, the rapid trading of mutual funds, and to keep trading in funds that had terminated their accounts. More...

Wall Street Journal, "With Wall Street on Defensive, Claims Against Brokers Surge"

Stung by massive stock-market losses and emboldened by the intense regulatory attack on Wall Street, investors are expected to file a record number of arbitration claims against brokers this year.
The average payouts going to miffed investors are getting higher, too. Stockholders typically win only slightly more than half of the cases that go to arbitration. But the amount being awarded investors is soaring -- $69 million in just four months this year, compared with $139 million for all of 2002. The size of arbitration disputes also has risen, with some attorneys saying that many more million-dollar-plus claims are being filed.

The New York Times, "Finding Wrongs, Through the Prism of Silicon Valley"

Seeking to mirror its aggressive pursuit of executives on Wall Street, the Justice Department is putting a new focus on Silicon Valley, pursuing managers of the technology boom who are suspected of crossing the line into securities fraud and insider trading. More...

The Recorder, "Alsup turning up the heat in securities fraud lawsuits"

If you're a corporate executive, U.S. District Judge William Alsup may be your worst nightmare. Through a series of increasingly striking orders, Alsup has made it known that he is hellbent on making crooked executives who benefit from corporate fraud pay, even if it means raiding their personal assets.

National Law Journal, "Shareholder Suits Down in Early 2002"

With huge corporate scandals making headlines almost daily, this could become a boom time for plaintiffs' securities class action firms. But so far it isn't. The plaintiffs' firms have filed fewer suits in 2002 than during the same period last year. They are facing economic and legal obstacles to recovering damages from the widely publicized corporate scandals. And, while they have added some new attorneys to their staffs, this is largely the result of a long-term growth in class action work, not a response to any wrongdoing at Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen or any of other companies being investigated. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Fraud Squad"

It wasn't too long ago when criminal prosecution for suspected securities fraud in the Bay Area was a rarity. But times have changed More...

National Law Journal, "Jury Returns $165M Punitive Award"

A California jury has returned a $165 million verdict for punitive damages-nearly 29 times the actual damages awarded-against a corporate defendant to deter fraudulent business practices, according to two members of that jury. The $170.7 million verdict on April 16 is the fourth highest of 2002, according to The National Law Journal's running tally of top 10 verdicts. More...

The Recorder, "'Brazen' Sham Slammed With $171M Verdict"

After deliberating for mere hours, a federal jury Tuesday returned a $170.7 million verdict on behalf of former shareholders of an allegedly sham software company. Included in the unanimous eight-person jury's verdict is $165 million in punitive damages, hailed as a signal that post-Enron juries are going to be tough on allegations of financial fraud. More...

The Recorder, "Another Twist in Securities Case"

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled oral arguments in a case that could define the limits of a judge's discretion in determining which lawyers will run lucrative securities fraud class actions. Last week, the court ordered that In re Copper Mountain Networks Securities Litigation, 01-70772, be heard the week of Feb. 11. The appeal by Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach claims that plaintiff with the largest losses in a case must be permitted to manage the litigation. More...

The Recorder, "Cal Micro Fraud Suit Settles for Total of $26 Million"

If only every week were this good for Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein. First the firm netted more than $2 million of an approved $30 million settlement in securities fraud litigation involving Network Associates Inc. Then on Thursday it settled the final piece of a long-running securities fraud case over faulty financial statements at Cal Micro Devices Corp. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker approved the final piece of a total settlement of around $26 million. Under the agreement, former Cal Micro executive Chan Desaigoudar will turn over more than 1 million shares of the company, worth around $7 million.

The Recorder, "Alsup's Securities Experiment Settles"

On Monday, US District Judge William Alsup approved a class settlement in the Network Associates securities litigation of $30 million and attorneys' fees of just 7 percent, a figure far below the benchmark and one which was hailed as proof that a novel process of requiring firms to bid for class counsel status means more money for class members. More...

San Francisco Chronicle, "Ex-CEO Pleads Guilty in Media Vision Tech Fraud"

In one of the largest securities fraud cases in Silicon Valley history, the former chief executive of a Fremont technology company has pleaded guilty to bilking investors out of millions of dollars, the U.S. attorney's office said yesterday. More...

Corporate Legal Times, "In Securities Litigation Cases, Judges Are Proactively Selecting Plaintiffs, Counsel"

Five years after it was enacted, provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act are prompting district-level judges to take a more active role in selecting lead plaintiffs and lead plaintiffs' counsel. More...

The Daily Journal, "Novel Approach to Picking Lead Plaintiff OK'd"

With a brief order, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week gave the green light to a groundbreaking selection process for choosing lead plaintiff under a new mechanism in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which gives trial judges broad discretion for appointment of lead counsel. More...

The National Law Journal, "Who Wants to Be Lead Plaintiff?"

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently weighed in on a securities litigation case pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that will probably define exactly who can serve as a lead plaintiff and, additionally, who can serve as the lead counsel. More...