Quarles & Brady's Securities Litigation Team Prevails Against Class Action Lawsuit Opposing The E.W. Scripps Company's Merger With Journal Communications
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP today announced that attorneys Don Schott, Jon Hackbarth, and Matt Splitek, recently concluded their successful representation of the E.W. Scripps Company by dismissing and obtaining sanctions against a class action lawsuit opposing Scripps' merger with Journal Communications.
In August 2014, shortly after the proposed merger between Scripps and Journal Communications was announced, a class action lawsuit opposing the merger was filed against Scripps and Journal Communications, among others, in Wisconsin State Court. (Goldfinger, et al. v. Journal Communications, et al., Case No. 14CV006910 [Wis. Cir. Ct. Milwaukee Cnty. Aug. 11, 2014]). Before the case was able to proceed to discovery, the Quarles team secured a complete dismissal of the state court lawsuit against Scripps.
Shortly after the dismissal of the state court lawsuit, the plaintiffs filed a second class action lawsuit opposing the merger in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (Goldfinger, et al. v. Journal Communications, et al., Case No. 15CV12 [E.D. Wis. Jan. 6, 2015]), and moved to obtain expedited discovery from Scripps and the remaining defendants. The Quarles & Brady team successfully blocked the plaintiffs' attempt to engage in discovery and secured a complete dismissal of the federal court lawsuit against Scripps. In moving to dismiss the federal court lawsuit, the team argued that plaintiffs' lawsuit against Scripps should be sanctioned pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. After subsequent briefing on the sanctions issue, the court agreed and imposed sanctions against the plaintiffs.
"This decision affirms that courts in Wisconsin take seriously their duty to make sure that plaintiffs diligently investigate whether they have a claim before filing suit," said Schott.
Schott, Hackbarth, and Splitek are members of the firm's Securities Litigation Team.