Gay Parks Rainville

June 03, 2014 | The Legal Intelligencer

Recent government investigations and a private lawsuit have turned a spotlight on the securities trading practice known as "high-frequency trading" or HFT. As a result, the practice has become one of the most talked about, yet least understood, subjects in the corporate legal industry.

By Robert L. Hickok, Gay Parks Rainville and Min Choi

8 minute read

March 04, 2014 | The Legal Intelligencer

In recent months, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proactively reassured investors that it is enforcing its rules that implement the "Securities Whistleblower Incentives and Protection" provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, set forth in Section 21F of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

By Robert L. Hickok and Gay Parks Rainville

7 minute read

December 03, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

On Nov. 15, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Halliburton Co.'s second petition for writ of certiorari in the Erica P. John Fund v. Halliburton, No. 13-317, securities litigation, this time to consider whether to "overrule or substantially modify the holding of Basic v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224 (1988), to the extent it allows a presumption of classwide reliance under the fraud-on-the-market theory," and, if the court does not overrule Basic, to decide whether a defendant "may rebut the presumption and prevent class certification by introducing evidence that the alleged misrepresentations did not distort the market price of its stock."

By Robert L. Hickok, Gay Parks Rainville and Min Choi

7 minute read

January 04, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

Last March, in the securities class action Matrixx Initiatives v. Siracusano, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected the defendants' proposed bright-line "statistically significant" rule for determining whether adverse event reports withheld from a pharmaceutical company's public filings are material as a matter of law.

By Robert L. Hickok and Gay Parks Rainville

11 minute read

June 04, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

The third proxy season of the Dodd-Frank Act's mandatory shareholder "say-on-pay" advisory votes is well underway, and "round two" of shareholder say-on-pay litigation is in full swing.

By Robert L. Hickok and Gay Parks Rainville

10 minute read

July 17, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

On June 11, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear biotechnology company Amgen Inc.'s appeal of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's decision to affirm class certification in the securities fraud class action Amgen v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds.

By Robert L. Hickok And Gay Parks Rainville

9 minute read

March 05, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

On February 13, U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet of the Southern District of New York issued a potentially groundbreaking opinion dismissing a number of shareholder derivative suits against officers and directors of Facebook Inc. in In re Facebook IPO Securities and Derivative Litigation.

By Robert L. Hickok, Gay Parks Rainville and Joseph W. Jesiolowski

8 minute read

September 03, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

Thanks to two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Amgen v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, 133 S. Ct. 1184 (2013), and Erica P. John Fund v. Halliburton, 131 S. Ct. 2179 (2011), plaintiffs in securities fraud class actions brought under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5 do not need to prove two of the essential elements of their claim, loss causation and materiality, at the class certification stage.

By Robert L. Hickok, Gay Parks Rainville and Min Choi

7 minute read

December 06, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

As reported by Cornerstone Research, Advisen and others, the frequency and volume of shareholder derivative and class action lawsuits challenging mergers and acquisitions of U.S. public companies have skyrocketed in recent years.

By Robert L. Hickok, Jay A. Dubow and Gay Parks Rainville

10 minute read

June 23, 2011 | The Legal Intelligencer

Since 2007, there have been two primary approaches for determining whether plaintiffs in securities fraud class actions can invoke, at the class certification stage.

By Robert L. Hickok, Gay Parks Rainville and Matthew D. Janssen

8 minute read