Class A Is Class A and Class B Is Class B And Shall Ever The Twain Meet?

In addition to directors and officers, Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 applies to every person who is "directly or indirectly the beneficial owner of more than 10 percent of any class of any equity security (other than an exempted...

Is Certiorari A Possibility For SLUSA Question Not Addressed By Any Federal Circuit Court?

In Luther v. Countrywide Financial Corp., 195 Cal. App. 4th 789 (2011), the trial court ruled that state courts do not enjoy concurrent jurisdiction when a class action meeting the definition of a “covered class action” under the Securities...

Liechtenstein And Article II, Section 1 Of The Constitution

I spent the Fourth of July holiday in the Fürstentum Liechtenstein, a very beautiful and surprisingly inaccessible part of Europe. Its capital city has no airport. The country is also largely vertical, as it is sandwiched in the Alps between Austria...

California Legislature Mulls Anti-Short Selling Bill

In April, I wrote about a bill, SB 726 (Hueso), that would have added a new section to the Corporate Securities Law banning false statements to government officials for the purpose of manipulating the price of a company's security by triggering an...

Happy Fourth Of July!

For the record, "Independence Day" is mentioned in  the following five California statutes:

Does "Valid When Made" Apply To Evidences Of Indebtedness Qualified Under The CSL?

Many have expressed disappointment that the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Midland Funding, LLC v. Madden.  The question presented by the petitioners in the case was as follows:

SEC Declines To Define "Mineral" In Resource Extraction Rule But Then Defines It Anyway

As reported by Broc Romanek yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted (again) a resource extraction rule. Congress had ordered the SEC to adopt a rule by April 17, 2011. After belatedly adopting a rule, the U.S. District Court...

Is Counterfeit Currency A Bank Note?

Counterfeiting was once considered to be tantamount to treason. It is still a serious, but not capital, crime. In fact, it is one of only four crimes specifically mentioned in the Constitution. Notably, however, the Constitution doesn't mention...

Are A Breach Of Fiduciary Duty And A Breach Of Governing Documents "Non Bis In Idem"?

Last week, I discussed the Court of Appeal's consideration of whether the business judgment rule protects a director from claims based on breach of the corporation's governing documents.  See Does The Business Judgment Rule Protect Directors Who...