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Quality Systems, Inc., et al. v. City of Miami Fire Fighters' and Police Officers' Retirement Trust, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 15-55173 · judgment July 28, 2017
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
In order to give companies breathing room to make forecasts about the future and provide more information to investors, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) contains a safe-harbor provision that shields from liability “forward-looking statements” that are “accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statement.” 15 U.S.C. § 78u-5(c)(1)(A)(i). The courts of appeals are divided over the proper interpretation of the PSLRA’s safe harbor. In this case, the Ninth Circuit held that the PSLRA’s safe harbor does not apply when a company’s forwardlooking projection is accompanied by a non-forwardlooking statement that the plaintiff alleges is false or misleading—unless the company expressly admits that the non-forward-looking statement is false or misleading. App. 27a-28a, 31a-32a. The Ninth Circuit’s admission-of-falsity requirement establishes a new extreme among those circuits that have chipped away at the PSLRA’s safe harbor. The question presented is as follows: Whether or in what circumstances a defendant must admit that non-forward-looking statements are false or misleading, in order to be protected by the PSLRA safe harbor for forward-looking statements.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Gregory George Garre
Latham & Watkins LLP
For respondent
Joseph D. Daley
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP
Proceedings
- Nov 27 2018Petition Dismissed - Rule 46.
- Nov 26 2018Stipulation to dismiss the petition for a writ of certiorari under Rule 46.1 filed.
- Sep 14 2018Letter of September 14, 2018 from counsel for petitioners received.
- Jun 27 2018DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/27/2018.
- Jun 18 2018DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/21/2018.
- Jun 11 2018DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/14/2018.
- Jun 08 2018Letter of June 8, 2018 from counsel for petitioners received. (Distributed)
- Jun 04 2018DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/7/2018.
- May 29 2018DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/31/2018.
- May 21 2018DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/24/2018.
- May 14 2018DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/17/2018.
- May 11 2018Letter of May 11, 2018 from counsel for petitioners received. (Distributed)
- May 07 2018DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/10/2018.
- Apr 11 2018DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/27/2018.
- Apr 10 2018Reply of petitioners Quality Systems, Inc., et al. filed.
- Mar 22 2018Brief of respondents City of Miami Fire Fighters’ and Police Officers’ Retirement Trust, et al. in opposition filed.
- Mar 22 2018Brief amicus curiae of Washington Legal Foundation filed.
- Mar 22 2018Brief amici curiae of Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, et al. filed.
- Feb 20 2018Response Requested. (Due March 22, 2018)
- Feb 14 2018DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/2/2018.
- Feb 14 2018Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, City of Miami Fire Fighters’ and Police Officers’ Retirement Trust, et al.
- Feb 09 2018Blanket Consent filed by Petitioners, Quality Systems, Inc., et al..
- Feb 08 2018Waiver of right of respondent City of Miami Fire Fighters’ and Police Officers’ Retirement Trust, et al. to respond filed.
- Jan 26 2018Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 26, 2018)
- Dec 05 2017Application (17A601) granted by Justice Kennedy extending the time to file until January 26, 2018.
- Dec 01 2017Application (17A601) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 28, 2017 to January 26, 2018, submitted to Justice Kennedy.