Emoji Take Center Stage in Financial Lawsuits: Stephen L. Carter

Social media is all atwitter—um, all a-X-er?—about the emoji at the heart of last week’s federal court ruling allowing a securities suit to proceed against billionaire investor Ryan Cohen. To be sure, litigation following a corporate collapse sprouts like weeds, but in this case both my law professor and wordsmith sides are fascinated by the allegation that Cohen used an image of a smiling moon to boost the stock price of Bed Bath & Beyond, after which he started selling his significant stake.

The law professor in me marvels at the way judges must now struggle with the collapse of ...