Skadden Wins Interlocutory Appeal for Putnam Investments

For Putnam Investments, Skadden won an interlocutory appeal in the Fifth District Appellate Court (in Illinois), which reversed a Madison Country trial court's refusal to dismiss three putative class actions involving allegations of improper market-timing activities. While the trial court ruled that the case could proceed as a state court class action, the appellate court held that the complaint was precluded by federal law, even though the plaintiffs disavowed any federal claims. On January 6, a unanimous three-judge panel held that the complaints alleged federal law based misrepresentations or omissions and were therefore precluded by the federal Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998.