What Is Securities Fraud?
Publicly traded companies disseminate huge amounts of information on a regular basis. When the information is truthful and accurate, the company’s stock price is fairly valued. However, when the information is false or fails to disclose all relevant information, the stock price can become artificially inflated (or in some cases deflated). When this is done intentionally or recklessly, the misinformation can rise to the level of securities fraud.

What Is A Securities Class Action?
A securities class action is brought by an investor--not only on behalf of himself--but on behalf of all other similarly situated investors (i.e., the “Class”). These other investors can be people who purchased stock in the same public offering as the named plaintiff or people who purchased stock in the same time period or “Class Period”.

What Is A Lead Plaintiff?
A lead plaintiff is the person or group of persons whom the court designates to prosecute the securities class action on behalf of the entire Class. Generally, the lawyers selected by the lead plaintiff are approved by the court as lead counsel to pursue the litigation.

What Is The PSLRA?
The PSLRA or Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 is a federal statute enacted by Congress that sought, in part, to increase the role of institutional investors in federal securities fraud litigation.

How Can A Pension Fund Become A Lead Plaintiff?
Under the PSLRA, the first plaintiff to file a federal securities fraud class action lawsuit must publish a notice of pendency of the lawsuit in a widely circulated business-oriented news publication. Other investors have 60 days from the date of the first-published notice to seek the court’s permission to serve as lead plaintiff. Schoengold Sporn Laitman & Lomettii monitors theses notices for cases in which its clients are eligible to participate and notifies them when such a case is filed.

We Retain Outside Money Managers To Invest Our Money. How Can We Serve As A Lead Plaintiff?
Virtually all pension funds hire professional investment managers to manage their money. This has no bearing on whether that fund can serve as a lead plaintiff. There is no requirement that the lead plaintiff (i.e., the pension fund) read and/or rely upon the misleading information that forms the basis of the lawsuit. Indeed, some courts have held that investment managers can also serve as lead plaintiff on their clients’ behalf.

How Can We Afford To Pay For The Litigation?
You don’t have to. The team of specialized lawyers with Schoengold Sporn Laitman & Lomettii handle all of their cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that they will not be paid for their services unless and until there is a recovery. Then and only then will lead counsel apply to the court for a percentage of the recovery obtained and for reimbursement from the recovery of the expenses incurred in the litigation, none of which you will be personally responsible for. Thus, there are no out-of-pocket costs to you to pursue these cases. In addition, the costs and expenses incurred by fund counsel in connection with the case can be included in the fee request.

We Already Have Investment Managers And Consultants Monitoring Our Investments.
Why Do We Need To Retain Schoengold Sporn Laitman & Lomettii?
As a general rule, your investment managers and consultants do not monitor your funds for securities fraud violations. They are not paid to do this, nor are they equipped to do so. Only attorneys who specialize in securities fraud class action litigation are qualified to perform this service. In addition, we can assist you with processing claim forms in conjunction with settled cases, further enhancing your chances of recouping all that you are entitled to receive.

We Already Have Outside Counsel. Why Do We Need More Lawyers?
Securities fraud litigation is a highly specialized field. Throughout the country, there are only a handful of law firms equipped to litigate these types of cases. The lawyers at Schoengold Sporn Laitman & Lomettii have been recognized as leaders in shareholder litigation for over 40 years. They work closely with fund counsel in order to give the best possible representation to you and your fund.

MORE INFORMATION

Pension Fund Investors

Individual Investors

Summary Of PSLRA

Securities Fraud Protection
& Recovery Services