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| 2002 News and Press Releases |
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HEADLINE ARCHIVED:
Plaintiff Drops Out Of Pre-Paid Lawsuit Biggest Investor Sees No Merit In Continuing With Appeals
By: Brian Brus
The Daily Oklahoman. August 16, 2002
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EXCERPT: The largest institutional plaintiff in a federal securities class-action lawsuit against Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. has withdrawn from an appeal of the case, company representatives said Thursday. Robert Poole, chief investment officer of Bricoleur Capital Management LLC, said his firm has decided the lawsuit, filed against Pre-Paid officers and directors in June 2001, is without merit. The legal services provider was sued over allegations that it misled investors by using accounting practices that artificially inflated the company's earnings. The lawsuit represented a potential $ 30 million liability for the Ada-based company. Robin J. Cauthron, chief judge of the federal court in Oklahoma City, dismissed the lawsuit in March. An Oklahoma City attorney filed an appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the plaintiffs, which will continue without Bricoleur. Poole said Bricoleur was included in that appeal as well as the original filing without anyone at his investment firm noticing the action. "It was never our firm's informed decision to participate in the first place. It appears that our participation was iadvertently authorized during a time of internal management transition by one of our staff in responding to what the staff thought was an informational request by one of the plaintiff's law firms," Poole said from his San Diego office Thursday. Bricoleur is believed to be the largest financial interest in the securities litigation. Poole said the company has held about 40,000 shares of Pre-Paid stock at about the time of the original lawsuit, and holds about 100,000 shares now. Pre-Paid's stock price closed at $ 20.63 Thursday on the New York stock exchange, up 69 cents for the day. "Needless to say, we're very pleased with this favorable development," Pre-Paid Chief Executive Harland C. Stonecipher said in a prepared statement. "We have maintained all along that the complaint was completely without merit and the court agreed. While the case is not over due to the plaintiffs' right to appeal, this is nevertheless a significant development in favor of Pre-Paid
Legal Services."
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