In re ReWalk Robotics Ltd. Stockholder Litigation (Lawyers Weekly No. 12-048-17)

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS SUFFOLK, ss. SUPERIOR COURT. 1684CV03336-BLS2 1684CV03670-BLS2 ____________________ IN RE REWALK ROBOTICS LITD. STOCKHOLDER LITIGATION ____________________ MEMORANDUM AND ORDER DENYING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO STAY PENDING PARALLEL FEDERAL PROCEEDINGS The named plaintiffs in these putative class actions claim that ReWalk Robotics Ltd. and thirteen other defendants are liable under §§ 11, 12(a)(2), and 15 of the federal Securities Act because ReWalk purportedly made false statements in a registration statement and prospectus concerning a public offering of securities. The first of these actions was filed on October 31, 2016. The second was filed on November 30, 2016. They were consolidated on January 9, 2017. A similar lawsuit making similar Securities Act claims against the same Defendants was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts on January 31, 2017. That lawsuit was docketed as Deng v. ReWalk Robotics et al., no. 1:17-cv-10179-FDS, and is pending before Judge Saylor. Defendants have moved to stay these state court proceedings pending dispositive resolution of this federal lawsuit.1 A trial judge has broad discretion to grant or deny a stay of proceedings pending resolution of the same or similar claims in another forum. Travenol Laboratories, Inc. v. Zotal, Ltd., 394 Mass. 95, 97 (1985). The Court concludes, in the exercise of its discretion, that there is no good reason to stay these actions. It will therefore DENY Defendants’ motion. 1 When Defendants filed their motion to stay, they represented that a second federal class action asserting similar claims had been filed against them in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and that Defendants have moved to have the two federal actions consolidated in the District of Massachusetts as a single multidistrict litigation proceeding. In their reply memorandum, however, Defendants report that the California action was voluntarily dismissed on March 23, 2017. As a result, there are currently only two sets of actions asserting similar Securities Act claims against ReWalk and the other Defendants: these two actions in Massachusetts Superior Court and the Deng case filed several months later in federal court in the District of Massachusetts. – 2 – Although Defendants argue that it would be inefficient for these cases and the pending federal action to proceed at the same time, they do not muster any convincing explanation as to why they seek a stay of these actions in Massachusetts court rather than asking the federal judge to stay the later-filed federal action. The first of these consolidated actions was filed in the Massachusetts Superior Court three months before the pending federal action was filed. Furthermore, the additional factual allegations asserted in the consolidated complaint in these actions suggest that the state court plaintiffs have […]

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