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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA oakland division
I, Richard Noelke, hereby declare, 1. I am the deputy director of the Wayne County Employees’ Retirement System (the “Fund”), a county pension fund, managing assets of over $983 million. I submit this declaration at the direction of Ronald Yee, the Director of the Fund. The Fund has more than 6,200 active participants and more than 5,800 beneficiaries receiving retirement benefits each month. As reflected in its Certification, the Fund purchased 28,000 shares of Solutia, Inc. (“Solutia” or “the Company”) during the Class Period and has suffered a market loss of $71,904.96 as a result of its trading.2. The Fund has selected the law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP (“Milberg Weiss”) to prosecute this action due to the Fund’s evaluation of Milberg Weiss’ resources, demonstrated competency, depth of experience, past success, reputation and tenacity in litigating securities class actions.3. The Fund and its directors are sophisticated investors capable of understanding the complexities of securities litigation. The size of the Fund’s losses ensures that the Fund will push for a fair recovery and actively monitor the litigation. If the Fund is appointed to serve as lead plaintiff, its representatives will monitor and participate in the prosecution of this action, through trial, if necessary. The Fund has selected Richard Noelke to monitor the litigation on its behalf. Mr. Noelke is a sophisticated businessman with the skills and time to ensure that this litigation is aggressively prosecuted and resolved to the class’ benefit.4. The Fund understands that, as lead plaintiff, its duty is to obtain the largest recovery possible for the benefit of purchasers of Solutia stock, including all class members, during the Class Period.5. The Fund understands that it had the right to file its own lead plaintiff application solely, or to do so in conjunction with its co-movant and/or others, or simply to do nothing at all and remain an absent member of the class. In this instance, the Fund is jointly seeking appointment with an individual investor, Henry Hoge. However, should the Court wish to appoint just one lead plaintiff, the Fund is on its own willing to represent the class and is fully capable of representing the class.6. I am aware that the securities laws presume that the class member with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class is the most adequate plaintiff. Based on the information provided to me, I understand that, collectively, the Wayne County Employees’ Retirement System and Henry Hoge possess the largest financial interest in this case, which makes us the most adequate lead plaintiff under the securities laws. I am not aware of any facts that would render the Fund or Henry Hoge unable to fairly and adequately protect the interests of the proposed class.7. The Fund has conferred with Henry Hoge and with our counsel to discuss the prosecution of this action. As lead plaintiff in this action, the Fund, through its representatives, will continue to work diligently to maximize the recovery for the class by ensuring that the victims of this fraud, not lawyers, direct the prosecution of this action. To accomplish this, the Fund and Henry Hoge have established a series of procedures to govern our prosecution of the action. For example, we have established a regular quarterly meeting schedule and can reach one another on short notice in the event an urgent matter arises. In the unlikely event that we are unable to reach a consensus on a given issue, we have agreed to conduct further evaluation and discussion on the matter until an agreeable compromise can be achieved.I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed this 31st day of October, 2003, at Detroit, Michigan.
/s/ RICHARD NOELKE
DECLARATION
OF SERVICE I, the undersigned, declare: 1. That declarant is and was, at all times herein mentioned, a citizen of the United States and employed in the City and County of San Francisco, over the age of 18 years, and not a party to or interest in the within action; that declarant’s business address is 100 Pine Street, Suite 2600, San Francisco, California 94111. 2. That on December 30, 2003, declarant served by method indicated on the attached service list, the DECLARATION OF THE WAYNE COUNTY EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM IN SUPPORT OF THE WAYNE COUNTY FUND GROUP’S REPLY TO OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT’S RESPONSES TO MOTIONS FOR CONSOLIDATION OF RELATED CASES AND FOR APPOINTMENT AS LEAD PLAINTIFF. 3. That this document was also forwarded to the following designated Internet site at: http://securities.milberg.com/ I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed this 30th day of December, 2003, at San Francisco, California. / S / MONINA O. GAMBOA
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