Natera Investors Get Class Status in Prenatal Screening Lawsuit

Natera Inc. failed to prevent class status in a lawsuit alleging the company misled investors about the success of their prenatal test, a federal judge said.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and other underwriters for Natera’s secondary offering argued there shouldn’t be a class because the investors didn’t sufficiently demonstrate a plaintiff got shares directly from one of them. Judge David A. Ezra for the US District Court for the Western District of Texas disagreed and adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendation to certify the class on March 21.

• Several large pension funds and others alleged Natera and several current ...