USSCT Decides Amgen Case Re Class Certification

By Cydney Posner

From Bloomberg and Reuters,  the USSCT, by a 6-3 vote, upheld a 9th circuit decision and allowed shareholders of Amgen to proceed with a securities class action without first having to show that misinformation had materially and fraudulently inflated Amgen's stock price. "Writing for the court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, said it would ‘waste judicial resources' to require investors to show that an alleged deception affected stock prices before a case could go forward as a class action. Amgen's position 'would necessitate a mini-trial' at a preliminary stage in the litigation, she wrote." Justice Ginsburg said "early stages of class-action litigation are meant simply to ensure that cases are litigated fairly and efficiently. Amgen 'would have us put the cart before the horse,' she wrote. ‘Congress, we count it significant, has addressed the settlement pressures associated with securities-fraud class actions through means other than requiring proof of materiality at the class-certification stage.'" Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas dissented. Reuters comments that the "decision also breaks a recent trend by the court to narrow class-action litigation."

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