Continuing with a recent trend, in In re Nature's Sunshine Products Securities Litigation, on a motion to dismiss by defendants, the United States District Court, District of Utah, recently held that in a securities liability action for alleged SOX and financial statement misstatements, the audit committee chair was a controlling person of the company due to the chairperson's "power to direct the management and policies of [the company] relating to accounting and auditing, during the relevant period."  Thus, under section 20(a) of the Exchange Act, as a "controlling person" it is possible that the chairperson could be held liable even if not directly responsible for the misstatement.  Of course, the chairperson has a "diligence" or "good faith" defense available, which is another reason for an audit committee member to make sure that the committee diligently goes about satisfying its responsibilities and functions.  The Court declined to dismiss the allegations against the audit committee chair at the pleading stage, instead awaiting additional evidence of the primary section 20(a) issues on controlling person status and the chairperson's diligence or good faith actions taken to prevent the alleged wrongdoing from occurring.