Law Commons^™

Liu And The New Sec Disgorgement Statute, Andrew N. Vollmer

William & Mary Business Law Review

In early 2021, Congress enacted a new statute for enforcement cases brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The new statute resolved important questions about the availability of disgorgement as a remedy in SEC enforcement cases, but it created other questions. The purpose of this Article is to discuss one interpretive issue that is already arising in the federal courts of appeals.

That interpretive issue is whether “disgorgement” as authorized by the new statute must abide by equitable limitations the Supreme Court imposed on disgorgement relief in SEC cases in Liu v. SEC, 140 S. Ct. 1936 (2020). The …

Securities Law In The Sixties: The Supreme Court, The Second Circuit, And The Triumph Of Purpose Over Text, Adam C. Pritchard, Robert B. Thompson

Articles

This Article analyzes the Supreme Court’s leading securities cases from 1962 to 1972—SEC v. Capital Gains Research Bureau, Inc.; J.I. Case Co. v. Borak; Mills v. Electric Auto-Lite Co.; Superintendent of Insurance v. Bankers Life & Casualty Co.; and Affiliated Ute of Utah v. United States—relying not just on the published opinions, but also the Justices’ internal letters, memos, and conference notes. The Sixties Court did not simply apply the text as enacted by Congress, but instead invoked the securities laws’ purposes as a guide to interpretation. The Court became a partner of Congress in shaping the securities laws, rather …

Statutory Interpretation Lessons Courtesy Of Pilgrim’S Pride, Philip G. Cohen

University of Miami Business Law Review

In Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. v. Commissioner, the Fifth Circuit reversed the Tax Court and held that the taxpayer was entitled to an ordinary loss deduction from its abandonment of securities. While the conclusion reached by the Fifth Circuit has been overshadowed by the promulgation of Treasury Regulation section 1.165-5(i) that effectively treats an abandoned security as worthless and thus characterizes the loss as capital, the case remains noteworthy because it provides an opportunity to examine the statutory interpretation of two distinct Internal Revenue Code sections, section 165(g)(1) and section 1234A. The article focuses on what methods of statutory construction …

Securities Law In The Roberts Court: Agenda Or Indifference?, Adam C. Pritchard

Articles

To outsiders, securities law is not all that interesting. The body of the law consists of an interconnecting web of statutes and regulations that fit together in ways that are decidedly counter-intuitive. Securities law rivals tax law in its reputation for complexity and dreariness. Worse yet, the subject regulated-capital markets-can be mystifying to those uninitiated in modem finance. Moreover, those markets rapidly evolve, continually increasing their complexity. If you do not understand how the financial markets work, it is hard to understand how securities law affects those markets.

Whoops - The Imminent Reconciliation Of U.S. Securities Laws With International Comity After Morrison V. National Australia Bank And The Drafting Error In The Dodd-Frank Act, Andrew Rocks

Villanova Law Review

The article contends that the Dodd-Frank Act and the case, Morrison v. National Australia Bank, restrict the extraterritorial reach of U.S. fraud laws to private rights of action involving domestic transactions of U.S. securities. The author notes that the U.S. legal jurisdiction is governed by the policy of minimal interference and respect for sovereignties and by the principle of comity. He states that this position will help establish a cooperative regulatory effort across global markets.

Moving Beyond The Clamor For Hedge Fund Regulation: A Reconsideration Of Client Under The Investment Advisers Act Of 1940, Anita K. Krug

Villanova Law Review

The article argues that a better approach for hedge fund regulation in the U.S. would be for law to regard private fund investors as clients of the managers of those funds. It discusses the regulatory regime governing investment advisers. The Investment Advisers Act of 1940 is tasked to regulate investment advisers and to require some investment advisers to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

One Nation, Under Securities Fraud: The Third Circuit Notches A Win For Federalism In In Re Lord Abbett Mutual Funds Fee Litigation, Ethan H. Townsend

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Merrill Lynch V. Dabit: Federal Preemption Of Holders' Class Actions, Mark J. Loewenstein

Publications

No abstract provided.

Law, Ideology, And Strategy In Judicial Decisonmaking: Evidence From Securities Fraud Actions, Michael A. Perino

Faculty Publications

Legal academics and political scientists continue to debate whether the legal, attitudinal, or strategic model best explains judicial decision making. One limitation in this debate is the high-court bias found in most studies. This article, by contrast, examines federal district court decisions, specifically interpretations of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Initial interpretations of the Act articulated distinct liberal and conservative positions. The data compiled here support the hypothesis that the later emergence of an intermediate interpretation was the result of strategic statutory interpretation rather than simply judges acting consistently with their ideological preferences, although there is some …

Accounting Firm Or Guarantor - The Third Circuit's Answer To Rule 10b-5'S Scienter Requirement In Accountant Liability Cases, Julie A. Boncarosky

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. And The Counterrevolution In The Federal Securities Laws, Adam C. Pritchard

Articles

The confirmation of Lewis F. Powell, Jr., to the Supreme Court coincided with a dramatic shift in the Court's approach to securities law. This Article documents Powell's influence in changing the Court's direction in securities law. Powell's influence was the product of his extensive experience with the securities laws as a corporate lawyer, which gave him much greater familiarity with that body of law than his fellow Justices had. That experience also made him skeptical of civil liability, particularly class and derivative actions. Powell's skepticism led him to interpret the securities law in a consistently narrow fashion to reduce liability …

Semerenko V. Cendant Corp.: The Third Circuit Clarifies The Securities Exchange Commission's Rule 10b-5 In The Context Of Public Misrepresentations, Anna Mae Maloney

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Statutes With Multiple Personality Disorders: The Value Of Ambiguity In Statutory Design And Interpretation, Joseph A. Grundfest, Adam C. Pritchard

Articles

Ambiguity serves a legislative purpose. When legislators perceive a need to compromise they can, among other strategies, "obscur[e] the particular meaning of a statute, allowing different legislators to read the obscured provisions the way they wish." Legislative ambiguity reaches its peak when a statute is so elegantly crafted that it credibly supports multiple inconsistent interpretations by legislators and judges. Legislators with opposing views can then claim that they have prevailed in the legislative arena, and, as long as courts continue to issue conflicting interpretations, these competing claims of legislative victory remain credible. Formal legal doctrine, in contrast, frames legislative ambiguity …

In Re Silicon Graphics Inc.: Shareholder Wealth Effects Resulting From The Interpretation Of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act's Pleading Standard, Marilyn F. Johnson, Karen K. Nelson, Adam C. Pritchard

Articles

This Article presents an empirical study of changes in shareholder wealth resulting from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in In re Silicon Graphics Inc. Securities Litigation, which interpreted the pleading provision established in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Reform Act"). Congress passed the Reform Act as part of an ongoing effort to protect corporations from abusive suits alleging "fraud by hindsight." In such suits, plaintiffs claimed that a sudden drop in a company's stock price was evidence that the issuer and its management covered up the bad news that led to the price drop. …

A Cloudy Prospectus: The Supreme Court's Problematic Reasoning In Gustafson V. Alloyd Co., Krista R. Bowen

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Supreme Court's Literalism And The Definition Of "Security" In The State Courts, Douglas M. Branson, Karl Shumpei Okamoto

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.