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Technology Stocks : Merant - MRNT (formerly MIFGY) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PCSS who wrote (330)	12/8/1998 10:37:00 AM
From: Mike Healy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 461

PCSS...I know the horse has left the barn. And the more people that join the suits the greater the theft will be against the people who dont join. If you see someone looting a store, do you join in the fun telling yourself "its ok, because the store clerk is a jerk and the owners wont be hurt because they are probably all out looting too...". Are you encouraging otherws to join in the theft....errr...lawsuit ? I know. I know. This is completely different. Everyone does it in this country. Its not a bad thing. The shareholders dont really know they are being robbed...or the names of the people (other than the attorneys) who are robbing them. Besides, its all legal. Ian, this is the underbelly of America. Is this your first exposure to it ? It gets far worse. You know, a friend of mine once showed me a securities class-action claim that was filed in a rush (they usually rush because the first attoreny to file with a vaild class has an edge in representing the whole class). The form was boiler plate and in certain places they had left the wrong company's name in the blanks...it was a joke...thats when i discovered what a mess this stuff is...the worst part is that, even when management has behaved unlawfully, they are never the ones punished...just innocent shareholders (which, occasionally at least, does include some of the managers...but often not the crooked ones which have sold). heres how the scam works Class action lawfirm monitors stocks. If a stock drops 20% (or 10% if business is slow) -->print out boiler plate claim alledging mgmt should have revealed harmful information sooner -->call network of crooked-brokers holding a handful of shares in 100s of companies to be your qualifying "class" -->file claim--->lobby to get real investors (pigeons)to join suit --> name company, mgmt and directors in suit. Implicitly threaten mgmt and directors with personal liability and lots of litigation unless they have company settle. --> Company pays out $XX million of cash. Managers and directors pay nothing and go home shaking their heads. ---> Attorneys take a big chunk of the cash ---> Attorneys keep rest in escrow earning money for years while they "qualify" all class members. --->send out checks to pigeons..(thats how they are occaisionall referred)... the pigeons are out more money than they will get back because the stock has taken a bigger hit due to uncertainty over how big the settlement payment will be. --> pigeons (apparently) tell themselves they really taught management a lesson. Perhaps the worst part: in the situations where management really as behaved unlawfully (a small minority...but it does of course happen), and the attorneys dig up a lot of the dirt and show management what a great case they have...then the COMPANY is made to settle for a much larger amount...hurting innocent investors even more. God bless America Andy Grove and other leaders of American industry have been working hard to correct this injustice against companies and their shareholders. They would be delighted to see real accountability for genuine crooks, however.