The following is a little long , but would have been a nice resource through this litigation. I haven't checked it out yet. It would probably be a good spot to bookmark for the future.
Friday December 6 11:55 AM EDT
Shareholders Gain First Time Access To Securities
Fraud Suits Through 'Electronic Courthouse' on Internet
securities.stanford.edu
Stanford Law School Creates Securities Fraud Class Action Litigation
Clearinghouse in Cooperation with SEC and Northern California Federal Judges
Website is First-of-its-Kind National Resource, Giving Broad Access to Legal
Documents Not Otherwise Readily Available Institutional Investors With More than $1
Trillion in Assets Under Management
Already Registered to Receive Notification Through Stanford Site
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- In a major step toward creating the
"electronic courthouse" of the future, in which documents are filed electronically and
open for public view on the Internet, Stanford Law School has created the Securities
Fraud Class Action Litigation Clearinghouse. This Internet resource is being constructed
in coordination with initiatives by the judges of the United States District Court for the
Northern District of California and the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission.
The Clearinghouse gives individual and institutional investors unprecedented access to
class action securities fraud litigation documents not otherwise readily available to the
public. It allows investors to monitor lawsuits quickly and easily, and lets them form their
own opinions as to whether cases have merit. It also provides for full text search
capabilities and automatic E-mail notification of litigation developments. Institutional
investors with more than $1 trillion in assets under management have already registered
with the Stanford site for automatic E-mail notification.
"The Securities Class Action Clearinghouse is a window on the future of litigation in the
age of the Internet," said Joseph Grundfest, a Stanford Professor Law and a former SEC
Commissioner who directs the project. "Justice Louis Brandeis once observed that
"sunshine is the best disinfectant." If there are problems with securities fraud or with
litigation practices then the Internet may prove to be a beneficial source of electronic
sunshine for the investment and litigation process."
"The Clearinghouse opens the litigation process to investors who are the real parties at
interest in these cases," Grundfest explained. "The Clearinghouse will also help the SEC
monitor litigation developments, help Congress evaluate the need for further
amendments to the federal securities laws, help judges learn about relevant
developments in cases pending in other courts, and help the media develop more timely
and informed stories about securities litigation developments."
The catalyst for developing this resource was the passage of the Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, which established important new rules governing the litigation of
class action securities fraud claims. Coupled with a historical lack of publicly accessible
information related to securities fraud litigation, Stanford saw a unique opportunity to use
the power of Internet technology to create a comprehensive and fully-searchable
database of all securities fraud class action litigation since the effective date of the 1995
Reform Act.
"We are most fortunate to be one of the nation's leading law schools and to be located in
Silicon Valley at this exciting time. The Internet promises to be a valuable new research
and teaching tool, and the entrepreneurial spirit of our law library staff combined with
their Internet expertise was essential to building this new resource," Grundfest explained.
Paul Lomio, librarian at Stanford Law School added, "This initiative is an important and
exciting example of how libraries can grow with technology. We see the Clearinghouse
as the first in many steps that we can take to "digitize" the law and make it available to
the public through an electronic law library."
The involvement of both the SEC and the Federal Judges of California's Northern District
is important to the future of Internet-based disclosure. The District Court for the Northern
District of California has released for comment the nation's first Internet posting rule
which would dramatically increase disclosure and efficiency by requiring securities fraud
class action litigants to make all major court filings, complaints, briefs, pleadings,
settlement documents and final opinions available over the Internet. The SEC has
indicated a willingness to maintain a master list of designated Internet sites at which
securities class action fraud information will be available.
"If other courts follow California's lead," Professor Grundfest continued, "then, for the
first time, all participants in securities fraud class action litigation will have the benefit of
open information and the best thinking available on a given subject. The result will be a
more transparent, more efficient, and more just legal process. The support we have
received from the SEC and the Federal Judges of California's Northern District is
extremely gratifying and, we believe, a testament to the value and importance of this
project. We hope to receive similar commitments of support from other federal
jurisdictions as they also propose similar rules."
Located at securities.stanford.edu, the site contains, among other things:
Full texts of federal securities fraud class action complaints filed since the effective date
of the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, not just judicial opinions;
Summaries and analyses of federal complaints; Plaintiffs' and defendants' briefs;
Docket sheets listing pleadings for the Northern District of California litigation; Settlement
notices and other settlement-related documents; Information about state court
complaints alleging securities fraud; and Access to the SEC's EDGAR database and
stock price performance about companies named in securities class action complaints.
Through the Clearinghouse, for the first time:
Investors, individual and institutional, will have full access to the litigation process and be
able to monitor litigation as it directly affects them or their shareholdings;
Judges will be able to easily and quickly research not only precedents but entire
arguments on a nationwide basis;
Corporations will be able to conduct low-cost searches for outside counsel by identifying
firms with relevant experience and evaluating the strength of their arguments;
Litigators will have access to the best arguments through previously inaccessible
complaints, pleadings, and briefs filed in similar litigation;
Academics will have an unprecedented opportunity to study litigation more
comprehensibly and in a more timely fashion than before;
Media will gain a resource that will enable them to report more thoroughly on litigation
development; and
Policymakers will have a very powerful tool with which to examine the effects of legal
reform and construct better public policy.
The Clearinghouse features a full-text search engine and is hot- linked to other websites,
such as Stockmaster, that allow subscribers to analyze the relationship between a
specific piece of securities litigation and a defendant company's stock price.
The site also features the first nationwide and comprehensive system for automatic
E-mail notification to investors, counsel, media, and others of new class action
securities fraud litigation developments. The Clearinghouse already contains full text
complaints in more than 50 class action securities fraud lawsuits, as well as full text
information regarding briefs, decisions, and settlements.
Seed capital for the development of the site was provided by George R. Roberts, a
founding partner of the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. The National
Center for Automated Information Research has provided the largest share of continuing
financial support in the form of sustaining capital for the project over the next two years.
Sun Microsystems and Apple Computer donated computer hardware for the site and
Netscape Communications has donated software and service support for the site.
Among the many Stanford Law School employees who contributed to the Clearinghouse
are Michael Perino, Deputy Director of the Law and Business Program, law librarians
Paul Lomio and Erika Wayne, Rilla Reynolds, Library Systems Manager, and Susan
French, faculty coordinator.
For more information, please visit the Securities Litigation Clearinghouse at
securities.stanford.edu. SOURCE Stanford Law School
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