Any time there is misconduct by the officers or directors of a company, it is common for several law firms to file similar complaints. This is because individual shareholders hire different law firms to pursue the same matter. Typically, the cases will be consolidated and litigated jointly, with one law firm or small group of firms appointed as “lead counsel” for the plaintiffs.
A derivative action is a lawsuit filed by shareholders on behalf of the corporation to enforce a cause of action against the officers or directors of that company. These actions typically involve claims that officers and directors are wasting corporate assets or that a corporation’s management or board of directors breached fiduciary duties owed to shareholders by negligence, mismanagement or self-dealing. It is important for shareholders to bring a derivative action when the company does not take proper action against its officers and directors for their wrongdoing.
Derivative actions force the company’s officers and directors to make appropriate decisions to maximize shareholder value. This is important to ensure proper corporate governance and increase transparency in the company.
Relief granted in a derivative action is a typically a judgment against the officers and/or directors requiring them to make changes for the benefit of the corporation or to pay money back to the corporation. If shareholders do not file derivative lawsuits, the company suffers, and the price of the stock could dramatically decline.
There is no cost to you for bringing a derivative action. We will advance all costs and expenses and work on a contingent fee basis. If we are able to reach a settlement or other successful outcome in the case, we will ask the Court to award our fees and expenses. These court awarded fees and expenses will be paid for by the company or its insurance carrier.
A person or entity may bring a class action on behalf of themselves and others who have been defrauded by the officers of a company. The affected investors join together to sue the officers who have committed unlawful conduct, such as misrepresenting or failing to disclose important details about the business or its financial condition. Class actions are ideal under these circumstances because it would not be economically feasible for each investor to separately sue the officers for their individual investment losses.
A class period is the specified period of time in which stock prices are believed to have been affected due to misconduct by the officers of a company. Shareholders who purchased within that period may be eligible to share any recovery in the class action lawsuit.
You can join one of our class action lawsuits by submitting your contact information below or by calling the The Briscoe Law Firm, PLLC. One of our lawyers will contact you to determine your eligibility and answer any questions that you may have.
You will be asked to provide records reflecting when you purchased the stock and how much you paid for it. You will also be asked to review and approve particular documents before they are filed with the court. Our attorneys will occasionally need to discuss the status of the case and litigation plans with you. In some cases, you may be asked to appear for deposition and/or trial; however, we will give as much advance notice as possible and try to minimize the inconvenience to you.
There is no cost to you for joining a class action. We will advance all costs and expenses and work on a contingent fee basis. If we are able to reach a settlement or other successful outcome in the case, we will ask the Court to award our fees and expenses. These court awarded fees and expenses will be paid for by the company or its insurance carrier.
No. You are eligible to participate in the class action as long as you purchased during the class period, regardless of your current holding.
Yes. However, the only shares covered in the litigation will be the shares purchased during the class period. Generally, purchases on sales of the stock before or after the class period are not relevant to your eligibility to participate in the lawsuit, although in some circumstances, if you had an overall net gain on your transactions over various periods, you might not be eligible to recover damages.
The shareholder recovery will vary depending on the amount of total loss suffered by all class members, the agreed settlement or court-ordered judgment, and the number and amount of claims submitted.
An officer of a publicly traded corporation commits securities fraud by being untruthful on the corporation’s financial statements, typically for the purpose of increasing the value of the corporation’s stock or to keep the value of the stock from decreasing.
Their main responsibility is to maximize the value of the corporation’s stock. Generally, an officer lies to conceal his/her own poor performance or because he/she wants to keep the price of the stock high long enough to sell his/her own shares at a high price. The practice of lying to keep the value of his/her corporation’s stock artificially high, and then selling his/her stock at the inflated value is commonly referred to as “insider trading.”
False or misleading statements often cause stock prices to rise when the market believes the company is performing better than it is. If you purchased stock at these artificially inflated prices, you likely suffered losses if/when the stock prices fell following corrective statements.
You may be able to recover some of your investment losses by joining a class action lawsuit against the corporate officers responsible for the fraud. If the lawsuit is successful at trial, or if a settlement is reached, you may receive compensation.
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