Interesting analysis at CFO.com of Senator Specter's effort to overturn Stoneridge and thereby massively increase the scope of securities fraud liability:
Regulators and lawmakers are trying to widen the net of securities-fraud liability. If they're successful, more companies could be ensnared in private litigation because of their business partnerships with fraudulent companies. ...
... opponents of Specter's legislation, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are using the current economic downturn to blunt interest in changes to existing rules. "Specter's bill would once again throw American business to the trial lawyer wolves, weakening our competitive position, at a time when our economy needs all the help it can get," wrote Stephen Bainbridge, a law professor at the University of California, in a recent blog post. He has said that an expanded interpretation of the law could force companies to extend the monitoring of their internal controls to those of their vendors and other business partners.
