It is widely assumed that English contract law does not recognise a general duty of good faith. Instead, the law has preferred an incremental, piecemeal approach of solving particular problems as and when they arise; rather than a general overriding notion of ‘good faith’. For instance, Bingham LJ said in Interfoto Picture Library Ltd v Stiletto Visual Programmes Ltd [1989] 1 QB 433, “In many...
Corporate Communication Through Social Media
It is common for CEOs and other senior managers of company to communicate through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. However, concerns have arisen whether that amounts to selective disclosure of company information if that is made available only on these specific platforms without being disseminated more widely to enable greater access to investors. The US Securities and...
Dismissal of Suit Against Satyam Directors
Last week, there was coverage in the financial press about the dismissal of a securities law suit by a New York court against the independent directors of Satyam. Now, a copy of the order dated January 2, 2013 issued by Judge Barbara Jones of the Southern District of New York is available through D&O Diary, which also carries a detailed analysis of the opinion. The shareholder suits failed on...
New York Courts’ Long-Arm Jurisdiction
The Harvard Corporate Governance Blog has a post discussing a recent judgment that confers significant long-arm jurisdiction to the New York Courts. Here is the summary: On November 20, 2012, the New York Court of Appeals issued an opinion that is of substantial importance to international banks and financial institutions that maintain and use correspondent banking accounts in New York. In Licci...
Delaware Ruling on Indian In-house Counsel and Legal Privilege
A couple of years ago, we had discussed the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision in the Akzo Nobel and Ackros Chemicals case where in-house legal counsel was denied legal professional privilege even though such counsel was enrolled as an advocate in the relevant bar at the time. Although that case involved European companies, we had made some guesses as to what might be the position in India...
Short Sellers, Short-Termism and Corporate Governance
I have been following a corporate battle that erupted last month in Singapore. Muddy Waters, a financial research firm based in the US, released a 133-page report on Olam International, a Singapore-based company, alleging several accounting flaws in the company’s financial statements that did not represent the true state of its financial health. Upon this announcement, the price of Olam’s shares...
Settlement of Charges Between Indian Brokerages and the US SEC
Earlier this week, four Indian brokerage houses entered into settlements with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for charges of carrying on brokerages services to institutional investors in the United States (US) without registration under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act). The SEC’s press release and the orders pertaining to the four brokerages are available...
Australian Court on Rating Complex Financial Instruments
The Federal Court of Australia has delivered an important ruling that pertains to the liability of credit rating agencies. In Bathurst Regional Council v. Local Government Financial Services Pty Ltd, the court found that Standard & Poors (S&P) was liable to several local councils in Australia for a AAA rating provided in connection with their investment in complex financial instruments...
Rajat Gupta’s Sentencing Order
The order of the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, sentencing Rajat Gupta to 2 years’ imprisonment and US$ 5 million fine for insider trading is one that is carefully crafted and likely to be of significance in sentencing jurisprudence as far as securities law violations are concerned. The order, pronounced by Judge Rakoff is detailed and well-considered, given that the...
Lord Saville: 15 Years of the English Arbitration Act
The UKSC Blog has highlighted a speech by Lord Saville, “Reflections on the English Arbitration Act 1996 after fifteen years”. Lord Saville, who was intimately connected with the drafting of the English Act, makes several interesting points. He deals with the narrow right of appeal on questions of law u/s 69 of the English Act. In does so, he addresses the argument that having a narrow right of...
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