King & Spalding Secures Significant Summary Judgment for Ripple

On June 20, 2024, King & Spalding secured a summary judgment for its client Ripple on all class action claims against it in a closely-watched crypto case pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.  The ruling entirely disposes of all class action claims—both federal and state—against Ripple.  All that remains in the case is a single state law claim brought by Lead Plaintiff on an individual basis, for which his loss is less than $200.  Plaintiff was pursuing class action claims alleging that Ripple and its CEO were liable under federal and state law for unregistered offerings of a “security” in connection with Ripple’s distributions of XRP. These claims were dismissed.     

The Court ruled that the federal securities claims (both class-wide and individual) were barred by the statute of repose, meaning the claims were brought more than three years after XRP was bona fide offered to the public. And the Court ruled that the California state law securities claims (both class-wide and individual) failed because Lead Plaintiff had failed to demonstrate the XRP purchasers – who overwhelmingly acquired XRP in the secondary market – were in privity with Ripple. 

The only claim to survive summary judgment was Lead Plaintiff’s individual state law claim about one allegedly misleading statement from Ripple's CEO. The Court concluded that it could not resolve one of the questions underlying this claim on summary judgment, and it allowed this claim to go forward. But, because Lead Plaintiff did not move to certify a class on this cause of action, any damages arising out of the claim are limited to Lead Plaintiff’s individual damages.

This victory ends years of class action litigation, and it substantially narrows the triable issues and possible damages in the Northern District of California from a nationwide class down to one individual plaintiff.

K&S partners Damien Marshall and Andrew Michaelson led the representation of Ripple. They were joined in representation by Veronica Moye, Brandon Keel, Christine Carletta, Luke Roniger, Jared Lax, Prachee Sawant, Caroline Freeman, Michael Taintor, and Caroline Chen.