Two weeks ago I reviewed the wide impact of Morrison v. National Australia Bank in the U.S. federal courts, and the limited prospects for state law workarounds. The Global Lawyer today examines the prospects for Morrison suits abroad, as well as a treaty that might govern them.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2010 decision broadly bars plaintiffs from bringing class actions under U.S. law based on securities traded outside the U.S. Naturally, plaintiffs lawyers would now like to bring such suits under non-U.S. law. And their first choice would be to bring them under non-U.S. law in U.S. courts. This argument was astutely anticipated in the essay “After Morrison” by Shearman & Sterling’s Emmanuel Gaillard. But it has quickly gone nowhere, as plaintiffs have discovered in recent months in securities suits targeting Toyota and BP. Foreign-law plaintiffs whose claims somehow survive Morrison seem likely to be dismissed from U.S. court on forum non conveniens grounds.
