Pro-defendant securities fraud statute gets Supreme Court scrutiny

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday takes on a 1995 federal statute that makes it harder for plaintiffs to pursue securities fraud lawsuits.  The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act requires plaintiffs in such cases to state facts sufficient to support a "strong inference" that  defendants acted with a culpable state of mind.  Plaintiffs who can't meet that high standard at the outset are left without a remedy.  In Telllabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues and Rights, Ltd., the issue is whether the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals properly applied that pleading requirement.

See further coverage of the case here, here, here, and here.