The Supreme Court allowed the SEC to seek “disgorgement” as a form of “equitable relief” in civil-actions, but limited the remedy to net profits for benefit of harmed investors. Answering part of a question reserved in 2017’s Kokesh opinion, this week’s Liu opinion raised more questions than it answered.
The Liu’s raised investor funds for an EB-5 visa program under a private offering, but pocketed most of them. In a civil enforcement action, the SEC obtained the Liu’s disgorgement of full amount raised from investors (not net), jointly and severally. The Supreme ...
On Friday, January 13, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve a Circuit split on the extent to which SEC enforcement actions are restricted by the five-year statute of limitations in 28 U.S.C. § 2462.
Section 2462 sets a five-year limitations period "for the enforcement of any civil fine, penalty, or forfeiture." The Supreme Court has held those limitations accrue when the violation occurs and the SEC does not benefit from a "discovery rule." Gabelli v. SEC, 133 S. Ct. 1216, 1220 (2013).
But there's disagreement over whether it applies to the commonly-sought disgorgement and ...
A unanimous Supreme Court reaffirmed the "gifting" theory of insider trading under Dirks and rejected Newman "to the extent" it required more.
The Court's long-standing rule in Dirks v. SEC, 463 U.S. 646, 664 (1983) allows a jury to infer a tipper's personal benefit "where the tipper receives something of value in exchange for the tip or 'makes a fit of confidential information to a trading relative or friend.'"
Recently, the Second Circuit appeared to limit the "gifting" theory. In United States v. Newman, 773 F.3d 438, 452 (2nd Cir. 2014), cert. denied, 577 U.S. ___ (2015), the Court ...
Within weeks, the Second and Third Circuits reached opposite conclusions over federal jurisdiction to confirm, modify or vacate arbitration awards. The Second Circuit now allows courts to look through the face of the petition to assess the federal-question jurisdictional merit of the underlying dispute; the Third Circuit doesn't (along with the DC and Seventh Circuits).
In 2009, the Supreme Court held the text of Section 4 of the Federal Arbitration Act required "look-through" assessment of the underlying dispute in motions to compel arbitration, based on the statute's text:
"A ...
The Supreme Court Monday re-affirmed the enforceability of class-waivers in arbitration agreements. The five-justice majority felt the need to rebuke the California courts for trying to end-run Federal preemption through a latent "States-rights" nullification approach. Two of the three dissenters saw the case as a consumerist crusade against big business. But the biggest take away for businesses using arbitration clauses just might lie hidden within the opinion. DirectTV's Conditional Class-Waiver. DirectTV's consumer contracts contained a conditional class waiver ...
On December 1, 2015, amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure adopted by the United States Supreme Court will be effective (absent action by Congress). The amendments to the Rules should be duly noted by litigation practitioners as certain of the amended rules appear to represent an increased focus on limiting discovery and even a departure from prior practice. If the intent of these changes are actually followed, these amendments should have an impact not only on securities cases but on any case filed and litigated in federal court.
One of the most significant changes is the ...
Last week the Fifth Circuit weighed in on how inartfully crafted arbitration and forum-selection clauses might trump one another. Together with recent decisions from the Second and Ninth Circuits - each with cert petitions pending - the issue seems poised for Supreme Court determination. Forum-Selection vs Arbitration Pending Supreme Court? The Second and Ninth Circuits held that a subsequent contractual forum-selection clause requiring all disputes to be resolved in a specified federal-court trumps FINRA's base requirement that FINRA member firms must arbitrate upon a ...