Justia U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Plaintiffs filed suit under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), 28 U.S.C. 1350, against various corporations for allegedly aiding and abetting crimes committed during apartheid by the South African government against South Africans within South Africa's sovereign territory. The court held that knowledge of or complicity in the perpetration of a crime under the law of nations (customary international law) - absent evidence that a defendant purposefully facilitated the commission of that crime - is insufficient to establish a claim of aiding and abetting liability under the ATS; it is not a violation of the law of nations to bid on, and lose, a contract that arguably would help a sovereign government perpetrate an asserted violation of the law of nations; allegations of general corporate supervision are insufficient to rebut the presumption against extraterritoriality and establish aiding and abetting liability under the ATS; and, in this case, plaintiffs’ amended pleadings do not establish federal jurisdiction under the ATS because they do not plausibly allege that defendants themselves engaged in any “relevant conduct” within the United States to overcome the presumption against extraterritorial application of the ATS. The court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "Balintulo v. Ford Motor Co." on Justia Law

Plaintiffs filed suit under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), 28 U.S.C. 1350, against various corporations for allegedly aiding and abetting crimes committed during apartheid by the South African government against South Africans within South Africa's sovereign territory. The court held that knowledge of or complicity in the perpetration of a crime under the law of nations (customary international law) - absent evidence that a defendant purposefully facilitated the commission of that crime - is insufficient to establish a claim of aiding and abetting liability under the ATS; it is not a violation of the law of nations to bid on, and lose, a contract that arguably would help a sovereign government perpetrate an asserted violation of the law of nations; allegations of general corporate supervision are insufficient to rebut the presumption against extraterritoriality and establish aiding and abetting liability under the ATS; and, in this case, plaintiffs’ amended pleadings do not establish federal jurisdiction under the ATS because they do not plausibly allege that defendants themselves engaged in any “relevant conduct” within the United States to overcome the presumption against extraterritorial application of the ATS. The court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "Balintulo v. Ford Motor Co." on Justia Law

Defendants appealed from judgments following a jury trial convicting them of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with the sale of coins and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the testimony of experts or its decision that the admission of their testimony does not warrant a new trial. The court concluded, however, that the district court failed to review de novo the recommendations of the magistrate judge for restitution and forfeiture. The court concluded that defendants' remaining arguments lacked merit. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court in all respects except that the matter is remanded for de novo review of the magistrate judge's reports and recommendations concerning restitution and forfeiture. View "United States v. Romano" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, purchasers of Green Mountain common stock, filed a putative securities class action, alleging that Green Mountain and some of its executives made fraudulent misrepresentations about Green Mountainʹs inventory, business performance, and growth prospects in a manner designed to mislead investors about the strength of Green Mountainʹs business, in violation of federal securities law. The court held that the complaint alleges misleading statements of material fact and a compelling inference of scienter. Accordingly, the court vacated the district court's grant of defendants' motion to dismiss and remanded for further proceedings. View "Employees' Retirement System v. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, purchasers of Green Mountain common stock, filed a putative securities class action, alleging that Green Mountain and some of its executives made fraudulent misrepresentations about Green Mountainʹs inventory, business performance, and growth prospects in a manner designed to mislead investors about the strength of Green Mountainʹs business, in violation of federal securities law. The court held that the complaint alleges misleading statements of material fact and a compelling inference of scienter. Accordingly, the court vacated the district court's grant of defendants' motion to dismiss and remanded for further proceedings. View "Employees' Retirement System v. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs appealed the dismissal of their putative shareholder derivative actions against Facebook and its directors and lead underwriters. Plaintiffs alleged that Facebook’s directors breached duties owed to the company because its Registration Statement failed to disclose the mid‐quarter impact of mobile usage on the company’s projected growth. The court concluded that it was not error for the district court to decide, as a threshold matter, whether plaintiffs adequately pleaded contemporaneous share ownership, as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.1. The court affirmed the judgment because none of the putative plaintiffs satisfied this requirement. The court did not reach the additional bases for dismissal raised by the district court or Facebook. View "In re Facebook, Inc. IPO Derivative Litig." on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, special-purpose investment entities, filed suit in New York state court against defendants, several parties responsible for structuring, offering, and managing collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). Plaintiffs allege, among other things, fraud in connection with disclosures about the construction of three CDOs. After removal to federal court, the district court dismissed the complaint under Rule 12(b)96) and denied plaintiffs' request to replead. The court concluded that the district court erred in aspects of its dismissal of plaintiffs’ fraud claim and also exceeded the bounds of its discretion in denying plaintiffs leave to amend the complaint as to the remaining claims. Accordingly, the court reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded for further proceedings. View "Loreley Financing (Jersey) No. 3 v. Wells Fargo Securities, LLC" on Justia Law

Plaintiff appealed the revocation of his medical license, challenging New York's use of the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard in revocation proceedings as violating the Due Process Clause. The court affirmed the district court's dismissal of the complaint, holding that the Constitution does not require a higher standard of proof in fraud-based medical disciplinary proceedings. In this case, there is nothing exceptional about plaintiff's hearing that rendered the Hearing Committee's use of the preponderance standard unconstitutional as applied to plaintiff. View "Tsirelman v. Daines" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, former employees of PwC, filed suit under the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., alleging that PwC's retirement plan deprived them of so-called "whipsaw payments," which guarantee that plan participants who take distributions in the form of a lump sum when they terminate employment will receive the actuarial equivalent of the value of their accounts at retirement. The PwC plan defines “normal retirement age” as five years of service, so that it coincides with the time at which employees vest in the plan. The court held that the plan’s definition of “normal retirement age” as five years of service violates the statute not because five years of service is not an “age,” but because it bears no plausible relation to “normal retirement,” and is therefore inconsistent with the plain meaning of the statute. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court, but for different reasons than those cited by the district court. The court did not reach the district court's alternative reasons for denying defendants' motion to dismiss. View "Laurent v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP" on Justia Law

Plaintiff, on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, appealed the district court's dismissal of his putative collection action seeking damages from defendants for violations of the overtime provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq. Plaintiff's complaint arose out of his work as a contract attorney in North Carolina. The court agreed with the district court’s conclusion that: (1) state, not federal, law informs FLSA’s definition of “practice of law;” and (2) North Carolina, as the place where plaintiff worked and lived, has the greatest interest in this litigation, and thus the court looks to North Carolina law to determine if plaintiff was practicing law within the meaning of FLSA. The court, however, disagreed with the district court’s conclusion, on a motion to dismiss, that by undertaking the document review plaintiff allegedly was hired to conduct, he was necessarily “practicing law” within the meaning of North Carolina law. The court found that accepting the allegations as pleaded, plaintiff adequately alleged in his complaint that his document review was devoid of legal judgment such that he was not engaged in the practice of law, and remanded for further proceedings. View "Lola v. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom" on Justia Law