Catch Up Round Up - Part I

Today's post is the first of several roundups of news items that slipped through the cracks during the last few weeks.

Class Certification Granted in SupportSoft Litigation

According to this press release, Judge Susan Illston of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California has certified the class in the securities litigation pending against SupportSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRT) and the company's CEO and CFO.

According to the release, the parties actually stipulated to certification of the class.

Lead counsel in the SupportSoft litigation are Labaton Sucharow & Rudoff LLP and Schatz & Nobel, P.C. and liaison counsel is Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP.

A full copy of the class notice can be found here and a copy of the corrected amended consolidated class action complaint can be found here.

Complaint Dismissed in Cyberonics Litigation

According to this press release, the securities class action pending against Cyberonics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CYBX) and certain of its officers and directors, was dismissed on July 20. The case was pending before Judge Gray H. Miller in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

According to the release, Judge Miller granted plaintiffs the right to amend their complaint within thirty days, but noted that "the deficiencies in Plaintiffs' complaint might well extend beyond the point of cure."

Scott+Scott LLC and Finkelstein & Krinsk are lead counsel and Emerson Poynter LLP is liaison counsel.

Daily Trivia #1: Finkelstein & Krinsk appears to remain of the very few plaintiff class action firms without a website.

Daily Trivia #2: Cyberonics has its worldwide headquarters in "The Cyberonics Building" which, you guessed it, is located on "Cyberonics Boulevard."

Van der Moolen Settles Securities Litigation

Van der Moolen Holding N.V. (NYSE: VDM) and Van der Moolen Specialists USA, LLC, its majority owned subsidiary, announced on July 24 that they have agreed to settle the securities class action pending against them before Judge Robert Sweet of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The Van der Moolen litigation was filed in the wake of the specialist scandal, in which numerous specialists on the New York Stock Exchange were accused of engaging in front-running or trading ahead of their clients, and interpositioning their trades between buyers and sellers, among other allegations.

Labaton Sucharow & Rudoff LLP and Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP are co-lead counsel in the Van der Moolen litigation.

The settlement is for $8 million, and, according to news reports, insurance will cover 60% of that amount. According to this blurb on the Labaton website, the settlement "represents a recovery of over one third of the damages suffered by the Class."

The investor education website, Investopedia.com, has an interesting article here on the differences (or lack thereof) between NASDAQ market makers and NYSE specialists.