On August 19, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington dismissed with prejudice a securities class action filed against Costco Wholesale Corporation and its senior management, and entered judgment in favor of defendants.

The complaint pointed to the company’s disclosure of a material weakness in October 2018 and alleged that the defendants made false or misleading statements concerning the company’s internal controls over financial reporting in June 2018. The court held that the complaint failed to plead a strong inference of scienter, as required by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.

The Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati team that represented Costco in the matter was led by partners Barry Kaplan and Greg Watts and included Of Counsel John Roberts.

For more information, please refer to the court’s opinion.​