Six Flags Wins Dismissal With Prejudice in Securities Fraud Case

Skadden — which replaced prior counsel — secured the dismissal with prejudice of all claims against Six Flags and its former CEO and CFO. The plaintiff alleged that the defendants issued false and misleading statements concerning the progress and accounting for certain Six Flags-branded theme parks to be built in China. In response to the plaintiff’s motion to amend the complaint to add a new plaintiff after the Fifth Circuit’s decision, Skadden filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings arguing that the remaining plaintiff no longer had standing to sue because they purchased Six Flags stock after the date that the Fifth Circuit held there to be no potentially actionable statements. Judge Mark Pittman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted the motion and dismissed the case with prejudice, holding that because the plaintiff had not purchased stock until after the purported “truth” had been revealed to the market, “Defendants’ partial disclosures ‘sever the link between the alleged misrepresentations and Plaintiff’s decision to trade at a fair market price,’” therefore depriving it of any standing to bring this putative class action. Because the only remaining plaintiff did not have standing to bring this putative class action, and no class had yet been certified by the court, the court also denied the proposed new plaintiff’s motion to intervene.