Groupon Fights Off Unclear Investor Suit on Sales, Performance

Groupon Inc. is free of allegations it misled investors about its performance after a federal judge in Illinois said the would-be class failed to state a claim.

Investors accused the online marketplace of misleading them about how well its paid membership program and direct sales market were doing. But they didn’t plead their claims with the particularity required for securities fraud cases, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said.

Groupon argued that the complaint was an impermissible “puzzle pleading” that required readers to piece together which statements were allegedly misleading for which reasons. Other courts ...