Ha, goed gezien !
Erg handig is ook dat er een samenvatting is opgesteld over de overeenkomst die er nu ligt. Zie hieronder, vertaling zal ik eens hard over nadenken...
Het blijft natuurlijk juridische praktijk, dus is deze overeenkomst nog niet definitief : er komt nog een fairness hearing, waarin iedereen die kritiek heeft op de overeenkomst nog zijn punten in kan brengen. Deze is op 10 september.
PROPOSED $586 MILLION GLOBAL SETTLEMENT
Preliminarily approved by Opinion and Order, dated June 9, 2009. Subject to final approval by Court, hearing scheduled for September 10, 2009.
With various substantive and procedural motions pending before the Court, in the summer of 2008, the parties engaged in a formal mediation process, supervised by two former judges, to discuss a global resolution of the entire coordinated litigation. The mediation took several months. Ultimately, the parties reached an agreement to resolve all 309 cases as against all defendants (the "Proposed Global Settlement"). The Proposed Global Settlement is memorialized in a Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement, dated as of April 1, 2009 (the "Stipulation"). The Stipulation provides for a $586 million recovery in total. This total amount is being divided over the 309 cases. The specific amount designated for each case will, in the first instance, be made available to the members of the Class in that case who submit valid Proofs of Claim. As set forth in the Stipulation, the classes are defined as follows:
[[A]ll Persons who purchased or otherwise acquired any of the Subject Securities at issue in such case during the Settlement Class Periods applicable to such case and were damaged thereby.
1.
Subject to the review provisions provided in [Paragraph 20 [of the Stipulation]], excluded from the Settlement Classes is each Person, other than a Natural Person, that was identified as a recipient of an allocation of shares from the "institutional pot" in the IPO of any of the 309 Subject Securities, according to a list derived from the final "institutional pot" list created at the time of each IPO by the lead Underwriter in that Offering ("Excluded Allocants").
2.
Also excluded from the Settlement Classes are (i) each Person that currently is or previously was a named defendant in any of the 309 Actions (hereafter "Named Defendant"), (ii) any attorney who has appeared in the Actions on behalf of a Named Defendant, (iii) members of the immediate family of any Named Defendant, (iv) any entity in which any Excluded Allocant or Named Defendant has or during any of the class periods had a majority interest, (v) the legal representatives, heirs, successors or assigns of any Excluded Allocant or Named Defendant; and (vi) any director, officer, employee, or beneficial owner of any Excluded Allocant or Named Defendant during any of the Settlement Class Periods. Notwithstanding the prior sentence, a person shall not be excluded from the Settlement Classes merely by virtue of his, her or its beneficial ownership of the securities of a publicly-traded Excluded Allocant or Named Defendant.
To be eligible to participate in the Settlement, a class member must satisfy the foregoing criteria. The express terms of the Proposed Global Settlement, including information about the subject securities and the Settlement Class Periods, are set forth in the Stipulation of Settlement and the corresponding papers.
The Proposed Global Settlement was submitted to the district court for review and preliminary approval on April 2, 2009. On June 9, 2009, the court issued an Opinion and Order preliminarily approving the settlement, and on June 11, 2009, a Preliminary Order directing that formal notice be mailed to shareholders, based upon records received from the defendants. After sufficient time has passed, the district court will consider the Proposed Global Settlement and ultimately determine whether it is fair, reasonable and adequate such that final approval is warranted. Thus, to be clear, at this time, the Proposed Global Settlement represents an agreement among the parties and is subject to final review and approval by the district court. The court has scheduled a hearing on September 10, 2009 to assess final approval of the proposed global settlement. If the settlement is ultimately approved, it will also take time to process the Proofs of Claim. Accordingly, no distributions to members of the Classes are expected in 2009. Please be patient.
Proof of claim forms, along with Notice of the Settlement, are in the process of being mailed to members of the classes by the Claims Administrator, The Garden City Group, Inc. You may also download a Proof of Claim Form from this website AFTER JULY 2, 2009. Properly executed Proofs of Claim must be postmarked by no later than December 10, 2009. Requests for exclusion must be postmarked by no later than August 10, 2009.
The Court has appointed a Plaintiffs' Executive Committee to manage and supervise the litigation on behalf of the plaintiffs in these actions. The members of the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee include: Bernstein Liebhard LLP, Milberg LLP, Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check LLP, Stull Stull & Brody LLP, Wolf Haldenstein Adler & Herz LLP and Howard B. Sirota. Contact information for these firms can be found at the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee link on this website.