IRAC Briefs: 42.1 Litwin v. Blackstone Group, LP (Course: Legal and Regulatory Issues) - Case Study Example

Lecturer Litwin v. The Blackstone Group, L.P. Issue: The U. S. Court of Appeals during the Second Circuit analyzed if the plaintiffs sufficiently illustrated that the registration prospectus give to them during the Blackstone IPO left out the material information that must be disclosed in terms of item 303(a) in the regulation S-K. The plaintiffs were part of the Blackstone investors in the 2007 IPO. Rule: The district court accepted the motion of the defendant to dismiss the claims of the plaintiffs within the securities act (1933).

The court illustrated that the alleged information omissions or misstatements were immaterial, in terms of the law. When reversion the rule, the Second Circuit pane illustrated that the district court did not adequately analyze the qualitative materiality and omissions, hence erred. The decision of the Second Circuit shows the significance of trend disclosures during public filings. This is even if the trend disclosures are material only to one segment of the general business of the issuer. Application: The ruling of the Second Circuit will encourage the plaintiffs to adequately take into consideration item 303(a) as the reason for private litigation as illustrated by the Securities Act.

Therefore, the issuers must sufficiently consider the likely result of financial trends on their economic conditions and the operation results, even if the trends are illustrated in the public domain. Conclusion: Issuers with several business units should appropriately focus on the trends that are highly likely to impact on revenues materially. Adequate consideration should also be done on the impact of such trends on the material business aspects.