Wolverhampton in action against Dell, Intel
Wolverhampton City Council, the Administering Authority for the £7 billion West Midlands Metropolitan Authorities Pension Fund, is moving a Texas court to serve as one of two co-lead plaintiffs in a securities class action against Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and certain others. The other movant, of the US, is Amalgamated Bank’s LongView Collective Investment Fund. The case is pending in the Western District of Texas. (press release; complaint)
Plaintiffs’ counsel: Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP
Brian Bailey, Acting Chief Executive of the council and administrator of the fund, is quoted in relation to the action as saying that “we are sending a message out to companies that they can’t act in this way and get away with it.” (Pensions Week, with thanks to ISS for that quote.) The council claims the fund has lost $1.8 million because of the alleged fraud.
Here it is interesting to note the council’s following observation on the relevance of its nationality in relation to its move for lead plaintiff status, as expressed in the minutes of its Investment Advisory Sub Committee meeting of 17 January 2007, about a fortnight prior to the filing of its complaint: “However, it should be noted that US courts have historically favoured US investors to take the lead plaintiff position.”
WV&Z will follow the case with interest.
What’s more: In its latest regulatory filing, Form 8-K dated 28 February 2007, Dell details the current SEC and related investigations and the 15 securities, ERISA and derivative actions against it, all arising out of the same events and facts. Its reponse: “Dell intends to defend all of these lawsuits vigorously.”