Broker-Dealer Litigation - Greenberg Traurig LLP

In re Nuveen Funds/City of Alameda Securities Litigation, 2011 WL 1842819 (N.D.Cal. May 16,
2011).
Investors brought suit against defendants for alleged violations of federal securities laws
and defendants filed a motion for summary judgment on the grounds that plaintiffs cannot
establish loss causation, materiality or scienter as required under the PSLRA. Plaintiffs claim
that they purchased notes pursuant to an offering statement prepared by defendants which
contained inflated and wildly optimistic and unrealistic projections. The court granted
defendants’ motion for summary judgment finding that plaintiffs failed to show any evidence of
a causal relationship between the alleged unrealistic projections and the sale of the underlying
project for less than projected.
D.1
Wozniak v. Align Technologies, Inc., 2011 WL 2269418 (N.D.Cal. June 8, 2011).
Plaintiff brought suit against removable teeth aligner manufacturer and several of its
officers for alleged violations of federal securities laws and defendants moved to dismiss for
failure to state a claim as required under the heightened pleading standard of the PSLRA.
Specifically, plaintiffs allege that as a result of a settlement with a competitor, defendant
manufacturer was forced to take on competitor’s customers causing a shift from pursuing a
growth strategy to handling backlog of new non-paying customers. Plaintiffs claim that the
acquisition of these non-paying customers was misrepresented or improperly omitted in various
conference calls and press releases. The court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss finding that
the misstatements alleged were generalized statements of optimism and constituted “nonactionable
puffery” rather than deliberate or reckless misrepresentations. Further, the court
found that the omissions claimed were actually disclosed numerous times prior to and throughout
the class period. The court also found plaintiff failed to sufficiently allege scienter for any of the
statements or inactions as required.
Police Ret. Sys. of St. Louis v. Intuitive Surgical, Inc., 2011 WL 3501733 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 10,
2011).
Plaintiffs brought suit against defendant alleging violations of federal securities laws and
defendants filed motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim as required under the heightened
pleading standards of the PSLRA. Plaintiffs alleged that, throughout the class period, individual
defendants were repeatedly asked about the effects of the economic crisis and “steadfastly”
assured analysts and investors that “the economic crisis was not negatively impacting sales and
revenues. Plaintiff also alleged that defendant failed to inform investors that it had effectively
saturated the market with its current product and growth prospects were minimal. The court
D.1
D.1
162