The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California held on May 20, 2016 that the federal securities laws do not apply to U.S. transactions in unlisted, unsponsored American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) for a foreign issuer’s shares. The decision in Stoyas v. Toshiba Corporation also held that principles of
Morrison v. National Australia Bank
The Netherlands Returns as a Collective-Settlement Forum
By Jonathan Richman on
Ageas (the former Fortis) and several organizations representing Fortis shareholders announced yesterday a EUR 1.204 billion settlement of shareholder claims under the Dutch Act on Collective Settlement of Mass Claims (the “WCAM”). The proposed settlement, which is subject to approval by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, marks the reemergence of the Netherlands as a potential forum for classwide resolution of transnational disputes that can no longer be resolved in the United States (or virtually anywhere else in the world).
U.S. Court Certifies Classes in Petrobras Securities Litigation
By Jonathan Richman on
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York yesterday certified two classes of investors who had purchased Petrobras securities on U.S. exchanges or in other U.S. transactions. The February 2, 2016 decision in In re Petrobras Securities Litigation held that potential questions about whether foreign courts would recognize a U.S. class-action judgment and whether individual off-exchange purchasers bought their Petrobras securities in U.S. transactions did not preclude class certification.
U.S. Securities Laws Not Applicable to Certain Purchases of Petrobras Debt Securities
By Jonathan Richman on
The narrowing of the federal securities laws’ applicability to non-U.S. transactions continues. On December 21, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held in In re Petrobras Securities Litigation that certain purchasers of Petrobras debt securities could not sue under the federal securities laws. In so ruling, the court held that settlements of transfers through the New York-based Depository Trust Company (the “DTC”) do not suffice in and of themselves to bring what would otherwise be non-U.S. transactions within the reach of the federal securities laws.
Third Circuit Defines “Extraterritorial” Applicability of Federal Securities Laws in United States v. Georgiou
Originally published as a Proskauer Client Alert.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit added its voice yesterday to the ongoing judicial effort to construe the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, concerning the extent to which the federal securities laws apply to securities transactions involving transnational elements. The Morrison decision had held that the Securities Exchange Act’s anti-fraud provisions apply only to transactions involving the purchase or sale of (i) “a security listed on an American stock exchange” and (ii) “any other security in the United States.”
In an appellate case of first impression, the Third Circuit ruled in United States v. Georgiou that the OTC Bulletin Board (the “OTCBB”) and the Pink OTC Markets Inc. (the “Pink Sheets”) are not “American stock exchanges” under Morrison‘s first prong. The court also held that transactions in “securities issued by U.S. companies through U.S. market makers acting as intermediaries for foreign entities” satisfy Morrison‘s second prong and are subject to the federal securities laws. This ruling on Morrison‘s second prong follows decisions from the Second and Eleventh Circuits concerning the locus of transactions in securities not listed on U.S. stock exchanges.