Decide reverses personal ‘mistaken’ dismissal of Overstock lawsuit

A Utah federal choose has reversed his personal dismissal of a class-action lawsuit towards on-line retailer Overstock that alleges it manipulated the market by issuing a safety token “Digital Dividend” to shareholders final yr.

On Wednesday, Decide Dale Kimball reversed his earlier resolution to dismiss the lawsuit, granting the plaintiffs’ request from October 2020 to file an amended consolidated criticism.

The category-action go well with was filed by lead plaintiff Mangrove Companions Grasp Fund in September 2019, alleging that Overstock lied concerning the function of its OSTKO safety token — which the plaintiffs declare was designed to “punish” short-sellers.

The go well with additionally alleged that Overstock misled buyers as to the funds of its retail division and didn’t disclose that it had did not safe director and officer legal responsibility insurance coverage.

The choose beforehand granted motions to dismiss the lawsuit in September 2020 after he discovered that Overstock’s safety token issuance didn’t manipulate the market and that the agency’s earnings assertion revisions had been protected by the Personal Securities Litigation Reform Act. On the time, Kimball concluded the criticism was “a basic try and plead fraud by hindsight.”

However on Wednesday, Kimball said he had made a “mistake” by having ignored a footnote within the plaintiffs’ opposition to the motions to dismiss that requested permission to file an amended criticism ought to the case be rejected.

The apparently intensive footnote additionally included new proof from confidential witnesses the plaintiffs argue demonstrates that Overstock’s executives had been conscious of the dimensions of its monetary woes.

Overstock’s OSTKO safety token started buying and selling on its tZERO various buying and selling system in Could 2020, with the token exploding from roughly $10 to a excessive of $89 in mid-August 2020. The token has since slumped by 50% and final modified palms for $48.50.

In line with Stomarket, OSTKO has a market cap of almost $212 million, which might rank it because the Eighty fifth-largest crypto asset by capitalization. OSTKO represents roughly half of all secondary safety token commerce exercise.