Securities Regulation -- 2026



San Diego County Employees Retirement Ass'n, et al. v. Johnson & Johnson, et al.   (U.S. Supreme Court)

Opposing Securities Fraud Theory Supported by Trial Bar Press

On March 20, 2026, the NAM filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review and reverse the certification of a class of shareholders who concocted a securities fraud lawsuit by relying on sensationalized republications of stale information drafted by plaintiffs’ firms. In this case, a divided 3rd Circuit panel found that the plaintiffs successfully asserted the “inflation maintenance” theory, claiming that Johnson & Johnson’s failure to make certain disclosures about the alleged presence of asbestos in its talc products maintained the price of its stock at an artificially inflated level. According to the plaintiffs, subsequent articles and blog posts that “corrected” these misrepresentations--which came from the same plaintiffs’ firms bringing talc personal injury claims against J&J—caused the stock price to drop, even though the information in the articles was already publicly available. Based primarily on the timing of these events, the panel wrongly surmised that investors relied on the negative publicity generated by these “corrective” publications, causing the stock price to drop. After the 3rd Circuit declined to reconsider the panel's decision, the defendant petitioned the Supreme Court for review. In support of the petition, our amicus brief urges the Court to address the panel's problematic decision, which was based on the panel's own conclusions about the signals that the relevant articles and blog posts sent to the marketplace. We note that many other circuits have rejected the idea that reports recasting existing information constitute “corrective disclosures” in an efficient marketplace. Supreme Court intervention is needed to address the circuit split and establish clear pleading standards in securities fraud cases. Unfortunately, in April 2026, the Court denied cert.


Related Documents:
NAM Brief  (March 20, 2026)