from yahoo board..
From a local newspaper. Can't understand why no one else picked it up.
The Herald-Sun
Sep 23, 2003 : 6:51 pm ET
DURHAM -- Eric Hunter's lawsuit against Cree Inc. and its chairman fails to support its claims with facts, says the latest filing by the Durham company and chairman Neal Hunter, Eric Hunter's brother.
The motion to dismiss the lawsuit and accompanying 49-page brief was filed in federal District Court in Greensboro on Friday. The defendants first filed a similar request in mid-July. Since then, however, Eric Hunter, joined by his wife and two children as plaintiffs, have filed a fourth amended version of the complaint, first filed June 12.
In the lawsuit, the Hunters claim Neal Hunter and other company officials harassed and slandered them for blowing the whistle on securities fraud. Neal Hunter and Cree deny any wrongdoing, saying Eric Hunter suffers from mental delusions. A federal judge last month denied Eric Hunter's request for an injunction against the alleged harassment. A hearing on the dismissal request could take place next month.
In the dismissal brief, Cree also says the complaint fails to make any valid legal claims, mostly by its vagueness.
"The only apparent goal of this lawsuit is to injure Cree and the Hunter family," it says, noting that Cree's shares dropped sharply the day after it was filed, from $22.21 to $18.10.
The company's stock has regained ground, closing Tuesday at $19.59, up $1.66, its highest closing price since June 13.
Cree also announced Tuesday it has begun volume production of its new Xthin light-emitting diode designed for miniature, bright, low-power mobile device lighting and digital camera flashes.
The defense brief says the lawsuit doesn't detail how the Hunters were wronged financially by alleged security fraud, nor does it specify any false or misleading statements by the company. Facts the complaint says the company hid from investors were in fact disclosed, it argues.
Nor did the Hunters specify what slanderous statements allegedly were made, the brief says, other than doubts about Eric Hunter's mental health, which either are not slanderous or are protected because they were made in legal pleadings. Furthermore, some of the complaint's claims are barred by a statute of limitations, it argues. |
