Around the Web

A few items from around the web.

(1) The first dismissal in the current wave of China-related securities class actions has occured, but it is difficult to read too much into the decision. In In Re China North East Petroleum Holdings Ltd. Sec. Litig., 2011 WL 4801515 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 6, 2011), the court concluded that the lead plaintiff had not suffered any economic loss. Within a couple of months after the “final allegedly corrective disclosure” was made, the company’s stock price rose above the lead plaintiff’s average purchase price. The court held that a “plaintiff who foregoes a chance to sell at a profit following a corrective disclosure cannot logically ascribe a later loss to devaluation caused by the disclosure.” The New York Law Journal has an article (subscrip. req’d) on the decision.

(2) The National Law Journal has an interesting interview (free regist. req’d) with the lead defense counsel in a recent civil securities fraud trial. The case was brought by investors against the former CEO of Homestore.com, who had previously plead guilty to related criminal charges. Although the jury found that the former CEO was liable for certain misstatements that caused $46 million in losses, he was not required to pay any damages because other defendants had already paid more than that amount to settle the claims against them.

(3) The D&O Diary has an informative roundup of the U.S. securities class action filing activity through the third quarter of 2011. At the present pace, there will be 205 filings this year, which is just slightly above the post-PSLRA average.