US advisers are celebrating a key ruling by the Supreme Court yesterday (16 January) that protects third-party defendants in securities litigation – including law firms, accountants and bankers – from so-called ‘scheme liability’ over their role in corporate fraud, writes the Legal Times.
The eagerly-anticipated decision came in Stoneridge Investment Partners v Scientific-Atlanta and Motorola – dubbed by some as the Roe v Wade of securities law – in which investor groups that sued cable operator Charter Communications for fraud also pursued companies that sold cable boxes figuring in some of Charter’s fraudulent transactions.
