Firm Files Cert. Petition in Securities Fraud Case.

Today the firm filed a cert. petition in Pirani v. Slack, a securities fraud case the Supreme Court heard on the merits two terms ago. The petition asks the Court to take up a question it had originally agreed to hear but did not decide when the case was last before the Court: Whether Section 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 requires plaintiffs to plead and prove that they bought shares registered in the offering for which the defendant filed a misleading prospectus. It also asks the Court to decide whether courts should apply a burden-shifting regime to determine whether the shares the plaintiff bought were registered in direct listing cases, where registered and unregistered shares are simultaneously issued to the public pursuant to a single registration statement.