York County on Behalf of the County of York Retirement Fund v. HP Inc.

Background

Defendants HP Inc., Dion Weisler, Catherine Lesjak, Enrique Lores, and Richard Bailey filed a renewed motion to dismiss the complaint. That motion was still pending. After briefing on the motion was completed, the defendants alerted the court to the Ninth Circuit’s 2023 decision in Habelt v. iRhythm Technologies, Inc. The lead plaintiff, Maryland Electrical Industry Pension Fund, had not yet had an opportunity to respond to that decision.

Issue

The court stated that Habelt appears to announce a rule under which a plaintiff who files the initial complaint in a proposed securities class action may cease to be a party if, after another plaintiff is selected as lead plaintiff under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, the initial plaintiff’s particular claims are not referenced in the operative complaint. One issue in the defendants’ motion is whether York County, the initial plaintiff, remains a party.

Order

The court ordered supplemental briefing on whether its interpretation of Habelt was correct and whether Habelt required a finding that York County’s status as a party had ended. Each side’s brief could be no more than seven pages and was due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 8, 2024. Unless the court determined that more briefing was needed, opposition and reply briefs would not be permitted. The order did not decide the renewed motion to dismiss or York County’s party status.