Stock Fraud Suit Against Yelp Gets Bad Review From Ninth Circuit

Online advertiser Yelp Inc. Nov. 21 beat back would-be class securities fraud claims it made false statements about the authenticity of customer reviews of local businesses.

The fact Yelp’s stock price dropped after disclosure of customer complaints it suppressed bad reviews of companies that advertised on its website isn’t enough to establish “loss causation,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed ( Curry v. Yelp Inc. , 9th Cir., 16-15104, 11/21/17 ).

It also affirmed that allegations top Yelp executives must have known about the company’s fraudulent business practices don’t give rise to a “strong inference of ...