Case Updates
Outcome
January 18, 2008
The Second Circuit declined to accept NCLC’s amicus brief.
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief urging rejection of collective knowledge doctrine
January 17, 2007
NCLC urged the Second Circuit to reject the collective knowledge doctrine and affirm that, for purposes of the securities laws, corporations cannot be held liable if no one employee of the company can be held liable on an individual basis. The plaintiff in this case contended that knowledge not otherwise shared by two groups of employees of the defendants should be combined so that the company could be said to retain “collective knowledge” of the fraudulent misstatements at issue. In its brief, NCLC argued that such a rule, rejected by every other court to consider it, would resurrect negligence liability for corporations, permit abusive discovery, and harm the standing of our capital markets as they compete globally.