MacOmb County Empl. Ret. Sys. v. Align Technology, Inc.

facts to make plausible the inference that the rate of Align’s growth in China had begun to decline significantly when the challenged statements were made. The panel concluded that former employees’ reports, viewed alongside circumstantial evidence of the short period of time between the twelve challenged statements and the downturn of Align’s prospects in China, sufficiently supported the inference that Align’s growth in China had slowed materially when the statements were made. * This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader.

MACOMB CERS V. ALIGN TECHNOLOGY

The panel held that the district court correctly found that six of the challenged statements were non-actionable “puffery,” which involves vague statements of optimism expressing an opinion that is not capable of objective verification. The district court also correctly found that the remaining six statements did not create a false impression of Align’s growth in China and so were not actionable. Having determined that all of the challenged statements were non- actionable, the panel declined to reach issues of scienter…