First up: A Latham & Watkins team including partners Michele Johnson, Andy Clubok, Beth Deeley, Hilary Mattis and Susan Engel. They convinced a federal judge in the Northern District of California to dismiss a securities class action against Twitter Inc. Plaintiffs claimed the company and executives misled investors in the run-up to a 20% drop in the company’s stock after Twitter announced changes to how and when it shares certain user data with advertisers. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found on December 10 that the plaintiffs had failed to allege any misleading statements or omissions or sufficiently plead scienter.
Sidley Austin partner Sara Brody and counsel Nicole Ryan likewise get a runner-up nod for bringing home a big securities win in the Northern District of California. The pair won a dismissal with prejudice for Flex Ltd. and four of its executives in a case where plaintiffs (represented by Labaton Sucharow) alleged the multibillion company’s stock dropped 35% when Flex announced the termination of a production contract with Nike to make shoes in Mexico. The Sidley lawyers convinced U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh to take judicial notice of disclosures about the increased costs of the Nike operations. Koh found those disclosures poked a hole in the theory that Flex’s profitability projection about the Nike deal were false and misleading. Sidley associate Stephen Chang also worked on the matter.
