Securities – Scienter

A securities fraud complaint must be dismissed for failure to plead facts justifying a reasonable inference of scienter with regard to public statements assuring the defendant corporation’s investors of the strength and depth of the backlog of orders at the defendant’s subsidiary aircraft company.

Automotive Industries Pension Trust Fund v. Textron, Inc., et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 01-146-12) (15 pages) (Boudin, J.) (1st Circuit) Appealed from a decision by Barbadoro, J., in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Douglas Wilens, with whom David J. George, Robert J. Robbins, Samuel H. Rudman and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd were on brief, for the plaintiff-appellant; Mitchell A. Karlan, with whom Brian M. Lutz, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, John A. Tarantino, Patricia K. Rocha, Nicole J. Benjamin and Adler Pollock & Sheehan were on brief, for the defendants-appellees (Docket No. 11-2106) (June 7, 2012).