Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc.: This isn’t Monopoly money | Alliance for Justice

Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc.: This isn’t Monopoly money | Alliance for Justice:

By Michelle D. Schwartz
AFJ Director of Justice Programs

The AFJ report discussed in this post is available here.

>>Analyisis of oral arguments using excerpts from Court audio is available here. 

Yesterday morning, I was privileged to attend Supreme Court oral arguments in Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc.

This is the case where Halliburton is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a 26-year old precedent in order to make it infinitely more difficult for shareholders to stand up for their rights  in court against corporations that have defrauded them out of their hard-earned money.  Halliburton itself is accused by plaintiffs, led by an organization supporting the charitable work of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, of making material misrepresentations to its investors on such issues as its asbestos liability, causing losses to those investors.

As Alliance for Justice noted in our new report, “Halliburton at the Supreme Court:  What’s at Stake in Halliburton, Inc. v. Erica P. John Fund,” if the Supreme Court rules the way Halliburton is asking it to, “In many instances, it would essentially be giving businesses like Halliburton a ‘get out of jail free’ card to defraud their own shareholders without consequence.”

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