Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.: Reliance on Deceptive Conduct and the Future of Securities Fraud Class Actions

摘要

This term, in an opinion authored by Justice Kennedy, a majority of the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court held, in Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., that purchasers of an issuer's securities could not bring a securities fraud class action against outside actors who allegedly engaged in deceptive conduct that inflated the value of the issuer's securities because plaintiffs could not show that they relied on defendants' actions. To rule otherwise, according to the Court, would extend the private securities fraud action beyond what Congress intended and what sound policy dictated.