U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman upheld a magistrate judge’s recommendation to deny in-part and grant in-part motions to dismiss filed by Sidley Austin LLP, Deloitte & Touche, Tonkon Torp, TD Ameritrade, EisnerAmper and Integrity Bank in a proposed class action case alleging that the defendants violated the Oregon Securities Law by participating and aiding in sales of securities totaling in excess of $650 million.
Pursuant to the ruling, plaintiffs are required to provide additional specificity regarding the primary Oregon Securities Law violations by Aequitas, but the court found that plaintiffs’ allegations of secondary liability against the defendants for participating and aiding in those sales are sufficient. Under the Oregon Securities Law, persons who participate or aid in the unlawful sale of securities are jointly and severally liable to the same extent as the seller. Defendants argued that plaintiffs’ participation and aiding claims exceeded the bounds of liability under the Oregon Securities Law, but the court disagreed.
The investors are represented by Keith A. Ketterling, Timothy S. DeJong, Jacob S. Gill, and Nadia H. Dahab of Stoll Berne and Steve W. Berman and Karl P. Barth of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.