The High Court has handed down its long-awaited judgment in the US$5 billion civil fraud action brought by the Hewlett Packard group in connection with its acquisition of the UK software company Autonomy Corporation Limited in 2012: ACL Netherlands BV & Ors v Lynch & Ors [2022] EWHC 1178 (Ch).
The judgment follows a previously published Summary of Conclusions, in which the High Court confirmed that the claimants “substantially succeeded” in their claims against two former Autonomy executives (see this post on our Civil Fraud and Asset Tracing Notes blog, which sets out the background facts to the dispute and summarises the outcome).
The successful claims were brought under s.90A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), common law misrepresentation and deceit, and the Misrepresentation Act 1967, as well as claims for breach of the defendants’ management duties.
The 1657-page judgment is significant, not only because the case is one of the longest and most complex in English legal history, but also because it is the first s.90A FSMA case to come to trial in this jurisdiction.
As a reminder, s.90A (and its successor, Schedule 10A FSMA) is the statutory regime imposing civil liability for inaccurate statements in information disclosed by listed issuers to the market. It imposes liability on the issuers of securities for misleading statements or omissions in certain publications, but only in circumstances where a person discharging managerial responsibilities at the issuer (a PDMR) knew that, or was reckless as to whether, the statement was untrue or misleading, or knew the omission to be a dishonest concealment of a material fact. The issuer is liable to pay compensation to anyone who has acquired securities in reliance on the information contained in the publication, for any losses suffered as a result of the untrue or misleading statement or omission, but only where the reliance was reasonable.
In recent years, there has been a noticeable uptick in securities litigation in the UK, in particular in claims brought under s.90A/Sch 10A FSMA. For more information on the key legal takeaways on s.90A FSMA arising from the judgment, see this post on our Banking Litigation Notes blog.
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