On June 23, in a case argued by Boies, Schiller & Flexner Chairman David Boies, the Supreme Court upheld its 1988 decision in Basic v. Levinson, ensuring the continued viability of private securities class actions. In deciding Halliburton v. Erica P. John Fund, the Supreme Court also rejected the defendants' argument that plaintiffs should be required to demonstrate price impact to invoke the fraud-on-the-market presumption established by the Basic case. The Court also held that defendants can seek to rebut the fraud-on-the-market presumption at the class certification stage by presenting evidence that misrepresentations by the company did not affect stock price.
The decision is a significant win for our client in one of the most widely watched securities cases in years. In addition to David Boies, the attorneys who worked on the matter are partners Carl Goldfarb, Sigrid McCawley and Stuart Singer. The legal team also includes counsel Hampton Dellinger, Eli Glasser and David Nelson, along with associates Andrew Adler and Aaron Marcus.