NEW YORK, March 17, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Abbey Gardy, LLP announces that it has commenced a Class Action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against ChoicePoint, Inc. ("ChoicePoint" or the "Company"), Derek Smith, Doug Curling and Darryl Lemecha on behalf of purchasers of ChoicePoint common stock (NYSE:CPS) between November 24, 2003 and March 3, 2005, inclusive (the "Class Period"). A copy of the complaint is available from the court or on our website, www.abbeygardy.com.
If you purchased or otherwise acquired ChoicePoint securities during the proposed Class Period and have been damaged thereby, you may request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff no later than May 3, 2005. Any member of the purported class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff in this action through counsel of his or her choice, or may remain an absent class member. There are certain legal requirements to serve as lead plaintiff. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as "lead plaintiffs.'' Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. Please feel free to contact Susan Lee at slee@abbeygardy.com or Nancy Kaboolian, Esq. at nkaboolian@abbeygardy.com if you have any questions concerning this Notice or your rights as a potential class member or lead plaintiff.
The Complaint alleges that defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. Unknown to the public until February 15, 2005, from approximately October 2003 through October 2004 criminals using "low-tech" methods had been able to access thousands of records containing personal information maintained by ChoicePoint. The Complaint alleges that defendants issued a series of materially false statements throughout the Class Period, which claimed ChoicePoint had unique capabilities and systems in place to enable the responsible use of information while ensuring the protection of personal privacy. In addition, the defendants falsely claimed that throughout the Class Period, the theft of consumer data they recently announced was unprecedented.
As the market learned in February 2005, ChoicePoint did not have adequate controls in place to protect the privacy of the information it compiled and sold. Defendants became aware of the criminals' access of the Company's records in October of 2004. Despite knowing of this serious threat to consumer privacy and despite knowing that their representations about the security of ChoicePoint's data were inaccurate, defendants waited until February 15 of this year to disclose any information about the breach in Company security. As the market learned on March 2, 2005, a similar incident occurred five years ago resulting in the disclosure of 7,000 records. Notwithstanding their nondisclosure and misstatements, defendants Smith and Curling sold over eighteen million dollars of stock between the time they discovered the criminals' access and their initial disclosure of the breach of their system in February.
When defendants acknowledged that the security of ChoicePoint's database had been breached and when the truth about defendants' prior conduct and misrepresentations began to emerge the market price of ChoicePoint's common stock dropped from a high of $47.95 per share during the Class Period to as low as $37.65 per share on March 4, 2005.
Abbey Gardy, LLP has been retained as one of the law firms to represent the Class. The attorneys at Abbey Gardy, LLP have extensive experience in securities class action cases, and have played lead roles in major cases resulting in the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars to investors. If you would like to discuss this action or if you have any questions concerning this Notice or your rights as a potential class member or lead plaintiff, you may contact:
Susan Lee or Nancy Kaboolian, Esq. Abbey Gardy, LLP 212 East 39th Street New York, New York 10016 (212) 889-3700 (800) 889-3701 (Toll Free) www.abbeygardy.com Or e-mail Susan Lee at slee@abbeygardy.com
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca