In one of the most prominent cases arising from the financial crisis, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Angelo Mozilo and other executives for securities fraud and insider trading related to their work running Countrywide Financial and its mortgage businesses. David Siegel, Dan Lefler, and Chad Elder at Irell & … Continued
Compass Lexecon was retained by Tim Walsh of Steptoe & Johnson LLP on behalf of their client, Cumberland Farms, to analyze the potential competitive effects of Cumberland’s acquisition of ExxonMobil’s gasoline retail and distribution assets on Long Island. Compass Lexecon’s analysis demonstrated that competition in retail gasoline was robust in … Continued
A federal court jury in San Francisco found that Compass Lexecon’s client, Michael Pattison, was not liable for alleged securities fraud, aiding and abetting securities fraud, or aiding and abetting the filing of misleading reports in connection with an alleged options backdating scheme. Compass Lexecon expert Professor Kenneth Lehn testified … Continued
In this securities fraud case, U.S District Judge Deborah Batts denied class certification for AIG bonds and sharply limited the remainder of plaintiffs’ case due to the failure of plaintiffs and their expert to demonstrate loss causation. Moreover, Judge Batts rejected plaintiffs’ claim that 10% is the generally accepted level … Continued
In this nationally publicized case, eBay filed suit in Delaware Chancery Court against craigslist and craigslist’s directors. eBay sought to require craigslist to rescind its poison pill and a share issuance to craigslist’s directors that diluted eBay’s ownership interest in the company. Compass Lexecon expert Daniel R. Fischel testified at … Continued
Compass Lexecon’s Janusz Ordover and Doug Fontaine advised outside counsel for Yahoo! with respect to the acquisition by Monster Worldwide, Inc. of Yahoo!’s online recruitment property, HotJobs. Professor Ordover and Mr. Fontaine assessed the extent of competition between generalist job boards like HotJobs and Monster and services employing alternative business … Continued
Prior to an anticipated acquisition offer from Broadcom, Emulex’s Board of Directors amended its bylaws to create a super-majority voting provision and amended poison pill. Broadcom commenced a tender offer for Emulex’s outstanding shares and filed suit in Delaware Chancery Court alleging that Emulex’s directors breached their fiduciary duties by … Continued
The SEC alleged that Dell did not disclose the effect of discounts Dell received from Intel on the Company’s financial results and the effect that Dell’s sourcing of processors from AMD would have on these discounts and the Company’s future profitability. Compass Lexecon expert Allen Ferrell filed a report demonstrating … Continued
On July 20, 2010, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued an order approving “an alliance among five members of ‘oneworld’ – American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, and Royal Jordanian” and granting them “antitrust immunity to implement those agreements.” This broad grant of antitrust immunity had been opposed by the … Continued
Compass Lexecon was retained by solicitor David Goddard of Thorndon Chambers and Tim Stephens of Simpson Grierson in New Zealand on behalf of their client OMV NZ Limited. OMV and the other two parties are joint venture partners in a gas field off the coast of New Zealand. Todd Pohokura … Continued