| Court: | United States District Court for the District of New Jersey |
| Case Number: | 00-cv-0621 |
| Class Period: | 10/26/1999 - 12/20/2000 |
| Case Leader: | Max W. Berger |
A securities fraud class action filed on behalf of purchasers of the common stock of Lucent Technologies, Inc. from October 26, 1999 through December 20, 2000. In the action, BLB&G served as Co-Lead Counsel for the shareholders and Lead Plaintiffs, the Parnassus Fund and Teamsters Locals 175 & 505 D&P Pension Trust, and also represented the Anchorage Police and Fire Retirement System and the Louisiana School Employees' Retirement System. Lead Plaintiffs' complaint charged Lucent with making false and misleading statements to the investing public concerning its publicly reported financial results and failing to disclose the serious problems in its optical networking business. When the truth was disclosed, Lucent admitted that it had improperly recognized revenue of nearly $679 million in fiscal 2000.
The claims administration process has concluded and the net settlement fund has been fully disbursed. This matter is considered closed.
On April 17, 2001, the Court ordered that there be a competitive bid to determine Co-Lead Counsel for the action. In response to the Court's Order, 17 law firms from across the country submitted proposals to serve as Co-Lead Counsel. In an Order dated June 12, 2001, the Court selected BLB&G to serve as Plaintiffs' Co-Lead Counsel. The Court held that BLB&G's proposal was the strongest bid and specifically noted the firm's expertise in securities class actions as well as the time and effort the firm spent evaluating the case. The appointment of Co-Lead Counsel is especially noteworthy as it marks the first time since the 1995 passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act that a court has reopened the lead plaintiff or lead counsel selection process to account for changed circumstances, new issues and possible conflicts between new and old allegations.
On December 15, 2003, the Court granted final approval of the agreement to settle this litigation, a package which is currently valued at over $600 million, composed of cash, stock and warrants.
The claims administration process has concluded and the net settlement fund has been fully disbursed. This matter is considered closed.