Paul, Weiss is widely recognized as having one of the nation’s preeminent securities litigation and regulatory practices. For two decades, our lawyers have guided global corporations and financial institutions through a series of “bet-the-company” securities-related crises, consistently reducing or eliminating their most damaging claims and negotiating favorable resolutions.
Paul, Weiss Secures Dismissal of Securities Class Action for Citigroup
On November 23, more than a year after the Second Circuit vacated the dismissal of a class action securities fraud suit filed against Citigroup and remanded plaintiffs' motion to amend the complaint to the district court, Paul, Weiss once again secured dismissal of the case.
The suit claimed that offering materials for Ikanos Communications' IPO and secondary offering, which Citigroup (and Lehman Brothers) had underwritten, contained a variety of material misrepresentations. In 2008, Judge Crotty of the S.D.N.Y. dismissed the suit with prejudice and denied motions for reconsideration and leave to amend.
On appeal, the Second Circuit largely affirmed Judge Crotty's rulings but -- "proceed[ing] cautiously" in light of the then-recent decisions in Iqbal and Twombly -- thought it "possible" that plaintiff could allege the "additional facts" necessary to render its flawed claims plausible. The Second Circuit therefore remanded to the district court, which permitted plaintiff to file a motion for leave to amend. In denying the motion, Judge Crotty substantially adopted the reasoning offered in Paul, Weiss's opposition brief, namely, that all of plaintiff's "new" allegations were either conclusory (and thus irrelevant under Iqbal) or logically contradicted by plaintiff's existing allegations.
The Paul, Weiss team included litigation partners Daniel J. Kramer and Daniel J. Toal (who argued the motion).