Laborers District Council Construction Industry Pension Fund v. Omnicare

Whether claims under Securities Act § 11, 15 U.S.C. § 77k(a), for which proof of fraud or mistake is no element of prima facie liability, are subject to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b)’s heightened pleading requirement, requiring that a party alleging claims of fraud or mistake “state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake”?; (2) whether investors seeking relief under Securities Act § 11, for which neither negligence nor fraud is an element of liability, may be required to plead facts showing either fraud or negligence; and (3) whether the courts reverse the burden that Congress placed on certain defendants, of demonstrating due diligence as an affirmative defense, by requiring plaintiffs to plead facts rebutting it.