The Institute For Legal Reform's Latest Attack on Shareholders

ATTORNEY: JOSHUA B. SILVERMAN
POMERANTZ MONITOR: MARCH/APRIL 2019

Each year around this time, corporate-backed lobbyists issue reports in order to reinvigorate their endless crusade against investor protections. Most recently, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform published a paper urging Congress to consider further limits on securities litigation, including an unprecedented damages cap that would severely curtail the ability of institutional investors to recover losses. Titled “Containing the Contagion,” the paper places ideology above fact, ignoring the actual statistics regarding securities litigation and its beneficial impact on holding perpetrators of fraud responsible to their victims.

Even a cursory review of the Institute’s arguments shows their fallacy. First, the Institute claims securities fraud cases have “exploded.” The data cited tells a different story. Last year, 221 non-M&A securities fraud class actions were filed, only slightly more than 214 in the prior year, and somewhat above an average of 182 cases over the past 20 years. Higher, yes, but well below the prior high of 242.

More importantly, the Institute does not address the rise in corporate fraud driving the uptick in securities fraud litigation. Each month brings new revelations of corporate misconduct, suggesting that Congress needs to increase, not cut, investor remedies. From LIBOR-rigging to Petrobras to the Billion Dollar Whale to Theranos, fraud has become more frequent and brazen in recent years. Startups and life sciences companies have hit investors especially hard. Embracing Silicon Valley’s “fake it until you make it” culture, many of these companies show little hesitation to tell investors whatever is necessary to raise capital, whether truthful or not.

While the Institute would prefer to blame lawyers rather than fraud perpetrators for the uptick in filings, facts do not support that conclusion. Dismissal rates for securities fraud cases have dropped substantially since 2015, reflecting the strong factual underpinning for recent cases. Further, securities fraud cases are filed in only a tiny minority of statistically significant stock drops, not indiscriminately. Once filed, courts apply one of the highest pleading standards under federal law, ensuring that only meritorious cases proceed. Courts also assess whether each pleading is frivolous, and must impose sanctions for those that are. The fact that courts have assessed thousands of complaints but only imposed a handful of sanctions demonstrates that current standards are working.

The Institute’s conclusions about M&A filings also defy logic. The paper cites an increase in federal M&A filings, the result of an ongoing shift in M&A lawsuits from Delaware state court to federal court. But, as Cornerstone Research confirmed in its most recent tally, the overall rate of M&A lawsuits has declined in recent years, slipping 11% below the average annual rate.

The Institute next takes aim at what it calls “eventdriven” litigation—a securities fraud lawsuit brought after an issuer has misrepresented a risk that comes to fruition. For example, if a medical device company misrepresented known safety defects, and patients later died, triggering investor losses, the Institute would call ensuing shareholder litigation “event-driven.” Any concerns about such litigation are overblown. Shareholders will only be able to sustain securities cases, however labeled, if they have a factual basis to properly allege scienter, falsity and loss causation. As a result, courts will quickly weed out any lawsuits based only on an unforeseen triggering event.

None of the Institute’s arguments supports the most drastic remedy it urges Congress to consider: a damages cap that would deprive institutional investors of compensation for injuries suffered as a result of securities fraud. Specifically, the Institute proposes that the damages payable by securities fraudsters be capped at an arbitrary, unspecified amount for all cases other than those arising from initial public offerings, and that small investors be prioritized in the allocation of those damages. To justify this proposal, the paper repeats the discredited claim that securities fraud litigation is just “pocket shifting” for large, diversified investors, supposing that the investors gain on securities litigation settlements but also lose when other companies in which they invest have to pay out settlements. No academic research has shown this to be the case. In fact, a recent study found a statistically significant rise in share prices when a corporate securities fraud defendant announces a settlement. As a result, institutional investors benefit both from receiving settlement proceeds, and from the boost in valuation when portfolio companies come clean with investors.

While unpopular among some special interests, private securities litigation has returned tens of billions of dollars to defrauded investors. Even after fees and expenses, private securities fraud litigation remains the most important source of recovery for defrauded investors, far outpacing the SEC. The Institute’s latest anti-investor positions may satisfy its backers, but they do not justify any rollback of investor protections.