Global Brokerage, Inc. Wins Opposition To Securities Class Action Certification

King & Spalding represented Global Brokerage, Inc. in its successful opposition to a securities class action certification motion in which Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses, of the Southern District of New York, refused to certify a putative class of notes holders.  In her ruling Judge Moses performed a fulsome analysis, first finding that the numerosity element of the Rule 23 factors had not been satisfied because there were only approximately 20 note holders, all sophisticated investors capable of bringing their own suits, in the putative notes class.  Then, analyzing whether the Basic presumption of market efficiency applied, Judge Moses applied the Cammer and Krogman factors and found that those factors weighed against a finding that the notes traded in an efficient market. As a result, the notes holders would be required to individually prove reliance, indicating that plaintiffs likewise could not satisfy the predominance requirement of Rule 23.  Judge Moses’s ruling represents a rare ruling against class certification and provides additional precedent addressing putative notes classes.