It’s a good day for Meta Materials (NASDAQ:MMAT), as the company announced over the weekend that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York had granted its motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit filed against it in January of 2022. The court concluded that the lawsuit failed to evidence any false statements, material omissions, or a strong inference of fraudulent intent from the company or any other named defendants. As a result, the dismissal of the lawsuit casts away all of the claims mentioned in the lawsuit. MMAT stock is up about 2% this morning.
“We appreciate the court’s thorough examination of the complaint and the Company’s motion,” said CEO George Palikaras. “Our priority remains serving our shareholders and continuing our work in the field of advanced materials and nanotechnology towards developing solutions that make a difference in people’s lives.”
MMAT Stock: Class Action Lawsuit Claims Dismissed in Court
Still, the court has not yet levied judgement in favor of Meta. This means that the plaintiff still has the option to file an amended complaint and/or appeal the decision while seeking leave from the court.
“If plaintiffs do not file such a motion or the court denies it, the plaintiffs will have 30 days to file a notice of appeal from the date the court enters a final judgment in favor of the defendants,” said Meta.
The class action combined two separate class action cases and involved evidence from a Kerrisdale Capital short report. It alleged that Meta made false and/or misleading statements in its business combination with Torchlight Energy Resources and that it overstated the effectiveness of its products and its ability to efficiently commercialize its products, among other claims. Shareholders who purchased MMAT stock between Sept. 21, 2020 and Dec. 14, 2021 were eligible to participate in the class action.
“Meta has habitually made outlandish and misleading claims about the feasibility, development, and commercial potential of various technologies only to repeatedly move the goalposts or retrospectively alter its claims, often just quietly dropping entire projects they had previously touted as pivotal,” said Kerrisdale in its short report.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
