As reported in Law360 and other media outlets, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed with prejudice a series of putative class action complaints brought against a group of national stock exchanges, including the Chicago Stock Exchange, represented by Levine Lee LLP. As the district court noted in its Opinion, Plaintiff’s complaints arose after the publishing of Michael Lewis’ book Flash Boys regarding high frequency traders in U.S. markets. Plaintiff, who subscribed to consolidated market data, alleged that the national stock exchanges’ dissemination of both consolidated and unconsolidated market data constituted a breach of contract under state law. The Court dismissed Plaintiff’s claims in their entirety with prejudice, concluding that Plaintiff’s claims are both preempted by a comprehensive federal regulatory scheme and are nevertheless insufficient to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6).

Seth L. Levine and Christos G. Papapetrou worked on the matter. The cases are Lanier v. Bats Exchange Inc. et al., case numbers 1:14-cv-03745, 1:14-cv-03865 and 1:14-cv-03866, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.