The United States Supreme Court ruled for shareholders yesterday in the Erica P. John Fund v. Halliburton case.

The case centered around the standard that applies at the class certification stage.  The Supreme Court had previously said that shareholders must show they made investment decisions in reliance on a company’s alleged misstatements in order to get class action status.

Chief Justice John Roberts said that requirement didn’t mean that investors seeking class action status must show they lost money as a result of the alleged fraud:

“The fact that a subsequent loss may have been caused by factors other than the revelation of a misrepresentation has nothing to do with whether an investor relied on the misrepresentation in the first place,” Roberts wrote in his opinion for the court.

You can read the full article detailing this case here on the Financial Advisor website.