Processing your request


please wait...

Case Page

 

Case Status:    DISMISSED    
On or around 10/16/2007 (Court's order of dismissal)

Filing Date: November 29, 2006

Hansen Natural Corporation ("Hansen" or the Company), through its subsidiaries, engages in the development, marketing, sale, and distribution of beverages in the United States and Canada.

According to a press release dated November 30, 2006, the Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants issued numerous positive press releases, statements and quarterly financial reports filed with the SEC that described the Company's financial performance. These statements were materially false and misleading because they failed to disclose and misrepresented the following adverse facts, among others: (a) that Defendants engaged in the backdating of stock option grants for certain key executives of the Company; (b) that the Company lacked adequate internal controls and was therefore unable to ascertain its true financial condition; and (c) that as a result of the foregoing, Defendants engaged in improper accounting practices.

On October 31, 2006, the Company filed a Form 8-K with the SEC indicating that it received a letter from the Staff of the Pacific Regional Office of the SEC requesting that the Company voluntarily produce certain documents and information relating to the its filing of SEC Forms 4 and the Company's stock option grant practices from January 1, 1996 to the present.

The Complaint alleges that on November 9, 2006, the Company issued a press release announcing a delay in the filing of its quarterly report. The Company reported that "(i)n light of the investigation discussed above, the Company is not in a position to complete the preparation of the financial statements and certain related information required to be included in Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2006. The Company intends to file Form 10-Q as soon as practicable after the completion of the investigation by the Special Committee."

Following this news, shares of the Company's common stock fell substantially on unusually heavy trading volume.

The Complaint further alleges that as a result of the dissemination of the false and misleading statements set forth above, the market price of Hansen common stock was artificially inflated during the Class Period. In ignorance of the false and misleading nature of the statements described above, and the deceptive and manipulative devices and contrivances employed by said Defendants, Plaintiffs and the other members of the Class relied, to their detriment, on the integrity of the market price of Hansen common stock. Had Plaintiffs and the other members of the Class known the truth, they would not have purchased said common stock, or would not have purchased them at the inflated prices that were paid.

On February 23, 2007 the judge entered his order consolidating the cases and appointing Jason Peltiers as lead Plaintiff in the case. On May 1, 2007 a corrected consolidated Complaint was filed and Defendants replied with a motion to dismiss on June 25, 2007.

On October 16, 2007 the judge entered an order granting the Defendants' motion to dismiss the Complaint with prejudice, permanently closing the case. Plaintiffs did not file an appeal.

Protected Content


Please Log In or Sign Up for a free account to access restricted features of the Clearinghouse website, including the Advanced Search form and the full case pages.

When you sign up, you will have the option to save your search queries performed on the Advanced Search form.