Pro-Business Roberts Court Strikes Out Again

March 22nd, 2011

In Kasten v. Saint-Gobain, Justice Breyer, writing for a 6 member majority, including Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, expanded the ability of an employee to file a complaint under the FLSA. Now the complaint can be in writing, or oral. Justice Scalia, joined by Justice Thomas dissented (Justice Kagan secured).

In Matrixx Initiatives v. Siracusano, Justice Sotomayor writing for a unanimous Court found that plaintiffs have stated a claim for securities fraud under the Securities and Exchange Act and SEC Rule 10b-5 based on a company’s failure to disclose reports adverse events associated with a product, even if the reports do not disclose a statistically significant number of adverse events.