We’ve been blogging about the Second Circuit’s decision in NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund v. Goldman Sachs (pdf), which held that a named plaintiff in a securities fraud suit might have standing in some situations to assert class action claims regarding securities that he or she never purchased. Yesterday, the Supreme Court denied (pdf) Goldman’s petition for certiorari (pdf) in that case. We’ll continue reporting on the aftermath of the Second Circuit’s decision.
In the meantime, defendants facing these sorts of claims should remember that the Second Circuit’s novel standing test requires that the claims regarding the unpurchased securities raise the same set of concerns as the claims regarding the securities that the named plaintiff actually bought. That limitation should help trim the sails of expansive securities fraud class actions.
In addition, defendants should emphasize that the fact that a named plaintiff may have standing to sue does not mean that he or she can represent a class of purchasers of securities that the named plaintiff never bought. At class certification, the defendant may be able to mount challenges to commonality, typicality, adequacy, and predominance based on the fact that the named plaintiff never bought some of the securities at issue.