Securities Litigation

The Department of Justice today appealed the Second Circuit's Newman decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, after several extensions. United States v. Newman, No. 15-137 (U.S. filed July 30, 2015). Last December's ruling narrowed the scope of tippee liability in insider-trading cases. The latest extension of the cert-petition deadline resulted in a bit of row, when the government hand-delivered the request June 15 and Justice Ginsburg granted it June 16, (extending the filing deadline to August 1). But Newman's counsel apparently wasn't even served with the government's request until June 18 - two days after it was granted. That caused a polite letter of protest, copy here. Newman narrowed tippee liability for insider-trading under the misappropriation theory, by requiring proof that the tippee not only knew the material non-public information was confidential, but also that the tipper disclosed it in exchange for a significant personal benefit. I discussed the Second Circuit's opinion here. Thomas K. Potter, III (tpotter@burr.com ) is a partner in the Securities Litigation Practice Group at Burr & Forman, LLP. Resident in the Nashville office, Tom is licensed in Tennessee, Texas and Louisiana. He has over 29 years' experience representing financial institutions in litigation, regulatory and compliance matters. See attorney profile. © 2015 by Thomas K. Potter, III (all rights reserved).