Business Law Currents - Legal

Turkcell AGM cancelled due to shareholder dispute

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:28:19 EDT

Turkish mobile phone company Turkcell cancelled its annual general meeting on Wednesday, the latest sign of problems stemming from a shareholder...

Ex-strategist can sue UBS as whistleblower -U.S. judge

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:24:54 EDT

UBS AG lost a bid Tuesday to dismiss a whistle-blower lawsuit by a former commercial mortgage-backed securities strategist who said he was fired for refusing...

U.S. asks judge to deny S&P's motion to dismiss fraud lawsuit

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:42:10 EDT

The U.S. Justice Department on Monday asked a federal judge to deny Standard & Poor's motion to dismiss a government lawsuit against the ratings agency, saying its statements on certain financial products were fraudulent and not mere "puffery"...

U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Fidelity whistleblower case

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:24:04 EDT

In a case involving whistleblowers at Fidelity Investments, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider whether mutual fund employees are subject to the same whistleblower protections as workers at publicly traded companies...

Florida court rules state time limits apply to securities arbitration

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:06:34 EDT

Florida's statute of limitations can apply not only to court proceedings, but to securities arbitration cases between investors and their brokers, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday...

Schwab reverses ban on client class-action lawsuits

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:40:12 EDT

Charles Schwab Corp has temporarily reversed its requirement that clients waive their right to bring class-action lawsuits, adding a new twist in a battle closely watched by...

Social media can amplify parody-related copyright risks

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:00:00 EDT

Conflicting rules on to whether, and to what extent, copyrighted materials can be parodied in Europe and North America mean…

Computer Sciences settles lawsuit over accounting for $97.5 mln

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:58:57 EDT

Computer Sciences Corp agreed to pay $97.5 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of defrauding shareholders by hiding a variety of accounting problems...

Brokers' legal woes can trigger sticky conversations

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:00:00 EDT

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's public disclosure database, BrokerCheck, is a tool to help investors research the background of brokers. Nonetheless, it can also be a headache for brokers whose records are not squeaky clean...

Delaware Chancery Court’s decision on flawed merger process has big implications for plaintiffs

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:00:00 EDT

In the recent decision of In re Plains Exploration & Production Company, Vice Chancellor John Noble ruled that directors…

Deal flow slows as investors digest massive wave of deals

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:33:12 EDT

A handful of Asian and small domestic issuers came to the primary US dollar high-grade market on Tuesday, with valuations looking stretched and investors...

Barclays wins dismissal of U.S. shareholder lawsuit over Libor

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:15:42 EDT

Barclays Plc, the first bank to settle with authorities over alleged manipulation of the Libor interest rate, on Monday won the dismissal of a...

Regulating Bitcoin – contrasting approaches in Europe and the U.S.

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:05:00 EDT

This article considers some areas of convergence and discrepancy in the approach of the U.S., the European Union and the UK towards the regulation of…

U.S. judge orders Hewlett-Packard to face shareholder lawsuit

Fri, 10 May 2013 16:23:21 EDT

Hewlett-Packard Co must defend against a lawsuit accusing former management at the world's largest personal computer maker of defrauding shareholders by abandoning...

U.S. seeks record prison for ex-UBS bankers over muni bid-rigging

Thu, 9 May 2013 12:39:47 EDT

U.S. prosecutors are seeking record prison terms, including one approaching 20 years, for three former UBS AG bankers who were convicted of conspiring to deceive U.S. cities and towns by scheming to rig bids to invest municipal bond proceeds...

Three cautionary tales on avoiding FINRA's wrath

Thu, 9 May 2013 11:52:29 EDT

As three men who once made a living in the U.S. securities industry discovered last month, it's not easy to successfully reverse disciplinary sanctions...

India's top generic drugmakers look to U.S. as patents end

Wed, 8 May 2013 07:34:48 EDT

India's top drugmakers, among the world's biggest producers of cheap generic medicines, are looking beyond their own shores to generate revenue, seeking to profit from big-selling drugs going off-patent this year in the lucrative U.S. market...

Chevron to appeal imprisonment of Indonesia contractor

Wed, 8 May 2013 04:13:37 EDT

Oil firm Chevron on Wednesday criticised the sentencing of one of its Indonesian subcontractors to five years in jail for breaching environmental laws, citing irregularities in the investigation and trial, and said it would appeal the verdict...

Traders charged in bribe scheme with Venezuelan official

Tue, 7 May 2013 20:03:28 EDT

U.S. prosecutors and securities regulators announced charges on Tuesday against several people in connection with an alleged kickback scheme involving a Venezuelan finance official...

Breakingviews: BofA's MBIA settlement more than pays for itself

Tue, 7 May 2013 10:16:00 EDT

Bank of America's legal settlement with bond insurer MBIA pays for itself, and then some. Agreeing to resolve disputes over losses from old toxic sludge cheered shareholders on both sides...

U.S. seeks up to 10 years prison for Level Global's Chiasson

Tue, 7 May 2013 08:59:14 EDT

Federal prosecutors want the co-founder of hedge fund firm Level Global Investors LP to spend as much as 10 years in prison for insider trading in shares of two technology companies...

Lululemon sued over executive bonus changes on eve of recall

Fri, 3 May 2013 15:07:44 EDT

Lululemon Athletica Inc was sued by a pension fund shareholder on Friday that wants to know if the board of directors wasted corporate assets by increasing...

Litigation watch: shareholder lawsuit trend continues with Office Depot/OfficeMax deal

Fri, 3 May 2013 14:30:00 EDT

In another example of shareholder lawsuits against M&A transactions, an OfficeMax Inc shareholder has filed a class action lawsuit to block…

U.S. judge blocks $383 mln arbitration case against Citigroup

Fri, 3 May 2013 14:12:04 EDT

Citigroup Inc has won an injunction blocking a $383 million arbitration case filed by a Saudi Arabian investor who accused the bank of "virtually wiping out" his family's wealth...

Shareholder activists accomplish governance reforms through derivative litigation settlements

Fri, 3 May 2013 07:31:00 EDT

As shareholder groups seek to influence corporate governance practices, derivative litigation settlements appear to be an effective means of achieving…

OfficeMax investor sues to block merger with Office Depot

Thu, 2 May 2013 22:30:49 EDT

A shareholder in OfficeMax Inc sued the directors of the company on Thursday, seeking to block its acquisition by larger rival Office Depot Inc...

SEC settles charges with Nebraska mutual fund trustees and servicers

Thu, 2 May 2013 18:03:57 EDT

Trustees for a pair of Nebraska mutual fund trusts and two fund services firms on Thursday settled civil charges alleging they provided misleading disclosures...

Court hears UK taxman struck Goldman deal to save face

Thu, 2 May 2013 08:10:10 EDT

Britain's tax authority approved a controversial deal with Goldman Sachs partly to avoid the embarrassment of the U.S. bank pulling out of a new tax framework, a court heard on Thursday...

EU regulators to review EDF tax aid again after court ruling

Thu, 2 May 2013 05:45:00 EDT

The European Commission said on Thursday it was reopening an investigation into a tax break granted to French power utility EDF, after the highest EU court overturned a Commission finding that the measure was illegal state aid...

Court rules in favor of NYSE, Nasdaq in NetCoalition case

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:09:35 EDT

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday dismissed complaints filed by Google, Yahoo! and other Internet companies that sought to reduce the fees the New York Stock Exchange...

GE settles crisis-era shareholder lawsuit for $40 mln

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:18:02 EDT

General Electric Co agreed to pay $40 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit accusing the conglomerate of misleading investors about...

SEC shifting post-crisis enforcement focus to client risk management, liquidity, official says

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:00:00 EDT

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is shifting its enforcement unit away from credit-crisis-era cases to new market problems...

Eurobank first to fall under state control in Greek bailout

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:56:42 EDT

Greece's fourth-biggest lender Eurobank won approval on Tuesday from its main shareholder National Bank for a capital injection that makes it the first major Greek bank to fall under state control as a result of the debt crisis...

Hong Kong regulator wins battle with Tiger Asia over civil court role

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 05:15:22 EDT

Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal has abruptly dismissed a challenge to the powers of the city's market regulator brought by hedge fund Tiger Asia, validating the watchdog's use of civil courts in a stepped-up campaign against financial misdeeds...

Judge sets new trial dates in Apple vs Samsung patent battle

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 03:36:29 EDT

A federal judge has set new trial dates in November to decide whether $450.5 million of damages awarded by a jury to Apple Inc in a patent dispute with Samsung Electronics should stand, according to a court filing...

U.S. judge questions fraud statute's use against Bank of America

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:09:13 EDT

A Manhattan judge indicated Monday he was "troubled" by how the U.S. government applied a rarely used law in a suit against Bank of America Corp over the sale of toxic mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...

Level Global in $21.5 mln SEC insider trading settlement

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:37:25 EDT

Level Global Investors LP agreed to pay $21.5 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges that its co-founder and an analyst engaged in insider trading...

Actavis settles OxyContin lawsuit with Purdue

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:03:38 EDT

Generic drugmaker Actavis Inc said it had settled a patent lawsuit with Purdue Pharma related to Actavis' generic version of the abuse-deterrent formulation of Purdue's painkiller OxyContin...

French court rejects Peugeot cutbacks challenge

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:17:04 EDT

A French court on Friday rejected a union challenge against PSA Peugeot Citroen's plans to cut thousands of jobs and close a plant, clearing the way for the restructuring to begin...

Delaware proposal could prompt two-step merger structures in going-private transactions

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:30:00 EDT

The Delaware State Bar Association has proposed an amendment to the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) that may significantly change…

Germany's Commerzbank loses UK banker bonus appeal

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:58:49 EDT

Commerzbank, Germany's second-largest lender, on Friday lost a high-profile appeal against a UK court ruling that forces it to pay 104 London-based bankers around 52 million euros ($68 million) in bonuses, plus costs...

Corporate governance watch: Google’s cash incentive program bucks compensation transparency trend

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:30:00 EDT

Executive compensation has been highly scrutinized by proxy advisors and institutional investors since the financial crisis...

U.S. government loan to Fisker to be scrutinized in congressional hearing

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:12:33 EDT

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) 2009 decision to grant Fisker Automotive a $529 million loan will be heavily scrutinized on Wednesday during a congressional hearing that is being held as the automaker verges on collapse...

China's ZTE signs Android patent license with Microsoft

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:30:00 EDT

China's ZTE Corp, one of the world's largest smartphone makers, has agreed to pay Microsoft Corp a royalty for devices it makes using Google Inc's Android and Chrome operating systems...

U.S. SEC taps White House attorney to be general counsel

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:35:55 EDT

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission tapped White House attorney Anne Small on Tuesday to become its general counsel, marking the first time a woman...

Dewey ex-chairman agrees to proposed settlement to resolve claims

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:27:26 EDT

The former chairman of Dewey & LeBoeuf has agreed to pay more than half a million dollars in a proposed settlement with Dewey's trustee...