A recent decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit addressed a dispute between hotel giant Marriott International, Inc., and one of its institutional investors, the Construction Laborers Pension Trust for Southern California (the “investor”), following a data breach of Marriott’s guest records. In a class-action complaint, the investor claimed that Marriott and its executives breached federal securities laws by omitting from the company’s public statements material information about data vulnerabilities. Based on its interpretation of federal securities law requirements, the Fourth Circuit held that Marriott had not misled its investors, and the court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the investor’s claims.
