United States Eleventh Circuit

District court properly dismissed securities fraud class action with prejudice where shareholders failed adequately to allege Defendants' scienter. Allegations that company's CEO granted and received backdated stock options were insufficient to give rise to the required strong inference that the CEO knew the backdated options resulted in overstated earnings, particularly in the absence of allegations showing that the CEO had any knowledge of the accounting principles relating to stock options.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/09/2009
• Published 01/09/2009

Judges

• PRYOR, Circuit Judge:, Before BIRCH and PRYOR, Circuit Judges, and STROM, District Judge.

Court

• United States Eleventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• David A. Bain, Atlanta, GA, Gregg S. Levin, Lance V. Oliver, Motley Rice LLC, Mt. Pleasant, SC, William H. Narwold, Motley Rice, LLC, Hartford, CT, for Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Ross A. Albert, Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP, Atlanta, GA, Dawn N. Wilson, Peter J. Macdonald, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr-NY, New York City, for Appellee.