Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

Securities — Supreme Court to Revisit Fraud on the Market and Consider Whether Defendant May Rebut Presumption of Reliance at Class Certification by Showing That the Alleged Misrepresentation Did Not Distort the Stock Price

Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc., No. 13-317 (U.S. Nov. 15, 2013) (available at http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/13-317.htm), granting certiorari:

QUESTIONS PRESENTED:

1. Whether this Court should overrule or substantially modify the holding of Basic Inc. v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224 (1988), to the extent that it recognizes a presumption of classwide reliance derived from the fraud-on-the-market theory.

2. Whether, in a case where the plaintiff invokes the presumption of reliance to seek class certification, the defendant may rebut the presumption and prevent class certification by introducing evidence that the alleged misrepresentation did not distort the market price of its stock.
 

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