Second Circuit Reverses Class Certification in IPO Cases

According to a New York Times article (reg. req'd), the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed Judge Shira A. Scheindlin's October 13, 2004 decision to certify the class in six "focus cases" out of the more than 300 consolidated and coordinated class actions pending before her as part of the massive In re Initial Public Offering Securities Litigation.

A copy of the Second Circuit's opinion can be found here, courtesy of the WSJ Law Blog.

The briefs in the case are available online, as follows:

• Brief for Defendant-Appellant Underwriters Seeking Reversal of Class Certification Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f)
• Brief for Plaintiffs-Appellees
• Reply Brief for Defendant-Appellant Underwriters Seeking Reversal Of Class Certification Pursuant Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f)
• Brief for the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America as Amicus Curiae Supporting Defendant-Appellants and Supporting Reversal of Class Certification Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f)
• Brief For The NAACP Legal Defense And Educational Fund, Inc. as Amicus Curiae In Support Of Plaintiffs-Appellees

Plaintiffs are represented by an executive committee consisting of Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP (chair), Bernstein, Liebhard & Lifshitz, LLP (vice-chair), Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP, Sirota & Sirota, LLP, Stull, Stull & Brody, and Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP.

As noted previously, here, plaintiffs' counsel maintains a website in the IPO Litigation that has copies of many of the major briefs filed in the case, as well as copies of the amended complaints filed in each of the three hundred consolidated and coordinated cases.

Update: The D&O Diary has a thoughtful post on the decision here, and there are additional news articles here (FT via MSNBC), here (American Lawyer via Law.com). and here (WSJ sub. req'd).

Daily Trivia: According to the firm's resume, Sirota & Sirota filed the first antitrust action in the In re IPO Antitrust Litigation, a distant cousin to the IPO securities litigation, that alleged the collusive "laddering" of IPOs by investment banks in the United States. The litigation was initially dismissed, but reversed by the Second Circuit. A petition for certiorari is pending before the United States Supreme Court. See Billing v. Credit Suisse First Boston Ltd., 287 F.Supp.2d 497, rev’d 426 F.3d 130 (2d Cir. 2005), petition for cert. filed, April 12, 2006 (No. 05-1157).

The firm also is a bit of a rare duck, noting on their resume that they have an active securities litigation practice representing defendants prosecuted by federal or state agencies or sued by investors.