Ouch

Seems like that document preservation Order the Nugget reported on back in January might not matter much now. That’s because Plaintiffs have suffered (yet more) pain from Judge William L. Standish (W.D. Pa.) (pinch hitting for Judge Arthur J. Schwab) in the IT Group securities class action. The nearly one-and-a-half pound decision (literally -- it’s 100 pages), eliminates all of Plaintiffs’ claims with prejudice, and observes that this “third version” of the complaint was “developed over a period of more than four years, and based upon evidence gleaned from an on-going bankruptcy proceeding from which Plaintiffs have received documentary and deposition evidence not usually available to typical securities fraud class plaintiffs.”

But Judge Standish said that in his “previous opinion" he "pointed out precisely the shortcomings in pleading scienter for the individual Defendants, advice which Plaintiffs either failed to follow or are unable to allege with the particularity required by the PSLRA.” In addition, “Plaintiffs have made allegations related to loss causation which are not merely offered in the alterative, but are self-contradictory, a defect which is fatal to their claims.”

Possible appeal? The Nugget thinks so.

Looking back: Loyal Nuggets will likely remember this article, a definite classic, where Judge Standish refused to appoint local counsel.

You can read Payne v. DeLuca, issued May 2, 2006, at 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25621.

Nugget: “Plaintiffs attempt, it appears, to plead their case by successive approximation, asking Defendants and the Court to point out shortcomings which they then assert they will ‘fix.’ This is not an acceptable method of pleading one's case in federal court.”