Morvillo Abramowitz Obtains Dismissal with Prejudice of Class Action Complaint Against CoinMarketCap
February 13, 2023
On February 10, 2023, after lengthy oral argument, a federal judge in Arizona dismissed a putative class action complaint against CoinMarketCap— a leading website that provides financial information about cryptocurrencies. In a complaint filed on September 13, 2021, Plaintiff Ryan Cox, accused CoinMarketCap, along with its parent Binance Capital Management and Binance.US, of violating the Commodity Exchange Act and the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act based on the low ranking given to HEX, the staking cryptocurrency that was introduced to the market in late 2019. Cox v. CoinMarketCap OpCo, et al., 21-cv-08197 (JAT). Cox alleged that HEX’s ranking should have ranked among the top 10 cryptocurrencies in the world, and that its assigned rank resulted in suppression of the price of HEX, damaging anyone who sold HEX after September 2020. Morvillo Abramowitz represents CoinMarketCap in the litigation, and filed a motion to dismiss arguing that the Arizona court did not have personal jurisdiction over CoinMarketCap, that the theory of the case was speculative and illogical because the factors considered in the rankings were disclosed, and that the complaint failed to plead adequately any of the elements of the Commodity Exchange Act or the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act claims.
Morvillo Abramowitz partner Karen R. King was lead attorney for CoinMarketCap and presented oral argument in Phoenix before Judge Susan Brnovich. The Court ultimately agreed with CoinMarketCap’s position on all legal arguments, dismissed the complaint with prejudice, and denied Cox’s request for jurisdictional discovery.
A copy of the court’s decision can be read here.
A copy of the firm’s briefing before the court can be found here.
Morvillo Abramowitz associates Mary G. Vitale, Joseph Stern, and Ariel Cohen assisted with the representation.
Court Decision_Cox v. CoinMarketCap (pdf | 355.05 KB) • Brief_Cox v. CoinMarketCap (pdf | 358.68 KB)