A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court held on April 27, 2010 that the shareholder lawsuit arising from Merck’s alleged misrepresentations regarding Vioxx is not time-barred by the applicable statute of limitations. A copy of the Court’s opinion can be found here.

 

Background

In an action filed in November 6, 2003, the plaintiffs had contended that the company knowingly misrepresented the risk of using Vioxx, and that when the risks were disclosed the company’s share price fell. Merck claims that more than two years prior to the filing the plaintiffs had or could have discovered the "facts constituting the violation, and therefore was barred by the applicable statute of limitations.

 

The District Court granted Merck’s motion to dismiss, holding that events more than two years prior to the filing should have alerted the plaintiffs to the possibility of a misrepresentation, placing the plaintiffs on "inquiry notice."

 

The Third Circuit reversed the district court, holding that while events more than two years prior to the filing constituted "storm warning," the events did not suggest scienter, and consequently did not put the plaintiffs on "inquiry notice."

 

Merck filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.

 

The Supreme Court’s Holdings

Justice Breyer’s opinion for the Court (with separate concurring opinions by Justices Stevens and Scalia) affirmed the Third Circuit and held that the plaintiffs’ complaint was timely.The Court’s opinion reflected several specific holdings.

 

First, the Court held that the statute’s requirement of filing within two years of "discovery" encompasses "not only facts plaintiff actually knew, but also those facts a reasonably diligent plaintiff would have known." (This is the portion of the opinion in which the concurring Justices did not join. Justice Stevens said this finding was not necessary to the Court’s holding. Justice Scalia, joined by Justice Thomas, disagreed with this part of the opinion while joining the Court’s holding.)

 

Second, the court held that the "discovery" of the facts that "constitute the violation" required the discovery of scienter-related facts. The Court found that "it would frustrate the very purpose of the discovery rule … if the limitations period began to run regardless of whether a plaintiff had discovered any facts suggesting scienter," as otherwise a defendant could conceal that he made a misstatement with an intend to deceive, and the two-year limitations period would expire before the plaintiff had actually discovered the fraud.

 

In reaching this conclusion about what is required to trigger the running of the statute of limitations, rejected Merck’s argument that the statute of limitations could begin to run once plaintiffs were on "inquiry notice." The court observed that the "terms such as ‘inquiry notice’ and ‘storm warnings’ may be useful to the extent that they identify a time when the facts would have prompted a reasonably diligent plaintiff to begin investigating," but in any event the "limitations period does not begin to run until the plaintiff thereafter discovers or a reasonably diligent plaintiff would have discovered the facts ‘constituting the violation,’ including scienter."

 

Finally, the Court rejected Merck’s argument that pre-November 2001 circumstances "reveal ‘facts’ indicating scienter," concluding that prior to November 6, 2001, "the plaintiffs did not discover, and Merck has not shown that a reasonably diligent plaintiff would have discovered, the ‘facts constituting the violation.’" Thus, the Court concluded, the "plaintiffs’ suit is timely."

 

Discussion

In a sense the issues addressed in the Court’s opinion are narrow and technical. In the vast scheme of things, statutes of limitations issues arguably might not affect many securities lawsuits, many of which historically have been filed shortly after the news triggering a sharp stock price drop, when, as is usually alleged, the truth was revealed to the marketplace.

 

However, there are at least a couple of current circumstances that may make the Supreme Court’s opinion in the Merck case particularly relevant just now.

 

First, since the second half of 2009, there have been an increasing number of case filings in which the filing date has come well after the proposed class period cutoff date. The later in time the filing date occurs, the likelier it is that statute of limitations issues could become relevant. Clarity around the issue of what triggers the running of the ’34 Act’s two-year statute of limitations, and particularly the clarification of the requirement for the discovery of facts constituting scienter, may help courts dealing with these belated cases to determine timeliness issues.

 

A second and perhaps more important reason the Court’s holding in Merck could prove relevant just now has to do with the continuing litigation arising out of the subprime meltdown and the credit crisis. As we move forward in time and the crisis-related events recede further into the past, additional filings increasingly may raise questions of timeliness. Statute of limitations questions are already arising in some of these cases, as I discussed in a recent post (here), and they are increasingly likely to arise in future cases.

 

The Merck opinion’s clarification of what is required to trigger the running of the statutue of limitations will help sort out these issues. In particular, the Court’s clarification that facts constituting "inquiry notice" and "storm warnings" alone are not sufficient to trigger the running of the statute could be particularly significant.

 

One final thought about this case is that the Court’s opinion definitely is helpful to the plaintiffs. In recent years, the Court has developed a reputation as hostile to private securities lawsuits. Without a doubt, the Court has issued a series of decisions (Tellabs, Stonridge, Twombley/Iqbal, Dura, etc.) that have proved helpful to defendants. But the Court’s opinion in the Merck case is not only helpful to the plaintiffs in that case but it likely will prove useful to plaintiffs in other cases as well.

 

Honestly, I didn’t see this coming. I thought, given the Court’s recent track record and given what I thought was the common sense notion that the Court would not grant cert just to affirm the Third Circuit, I thought this case would likely lead to a victory for Merck in another defense friendly decision. Instead, the plaintiffs prevailed in a unanimous holding. Maybe my presumptions were completely off base, but I still find the outcome interesting and a little unexpected.

 

Special thanks to the several readers who sent me copies of the opinion.