Daily Journal Publishes Akin Gump Analysis of 9th Circuit Securities Fraud Ruling
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Daily Journal has published the article “Ruling extends heightened securities fraud pleading standard,” written by Neal Marder, a partner in the litigation practice at Akin Gump, and associates Andrew Jick and Kelly Handschumacher. The article discusses a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in City of Dearborn Heights Act 345 Police & Fire Retirement System v. Align Technology Inc., a case that affirmed the dismissal of a pension fund’s securities fraud claims.
The original complaint in the case alleged that Align Technology “made several materially false and misleading statements” regarding its goodwill valuation of a subsidiary that it acquired in March 2011. The claims were dismissed at the district court level and the appeals court affirmed that decision, with the 9th Circuit ruling that the plaintiff “failed to satisfy the pleading requirements established by Omnicare, Inc. v. Laborers District Counsel Construction Industry Pension Fund, 135 S. Ct. 1318 (2015), for allegedly false opinion statements.”
The authors write that the 9th Circuit ruling “will likely make it more difficult to allege securities fraud claims based on allegedly false or misleading opinion statements.”
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