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Class Action Suit Filed Against Symantec Corporation and Its Officers and Directors Alleging Misrepresentations, False Financial Statements and Insider Trading.


SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 7, 1997--A class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises following counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa  by plaintiffs Joseph R. Molinari, Jr. and Eric D. Freed on behalf of purchasers of Symantec Corporation ("Symantec") common stock during the period June 9, 1995 to January 8, 1996.

Plaintiffs allege that during the Class Period, defendants engaged in a fraudulent scheme Noun 1. fraudulent scheme - an illegal enterprise (such as extortion or fraud or drug peddling or prostitution) carried on for profit
illegitimate enterprise, racket
 and course of business that operated as a fraud or deceit on all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired Symantec stock. As set forth hereafter, these false and misleading statements included statements about (1) Symantec's new Windows 95-related utility software products known as Norton Navigator An earlier Windows 95 file management and desktop utility from Symantec. It was the successor to Norton Desktop for Windows 3.x and provided multiple desktops and enhanced file manipulation, but omitted the backup and antivirus functions. , Norton AntiVirus A popular antivirus program from Symantec. The AntiVirus function is available as a separate product for home and business users or as part of various packages that contain other utilities such as Norton SystemWorks and Norton Internet Security. See Norton Utilities.  and Norton Utilities Widely used utility programs for Windows and Macintosh from Symantec. Used to fix problems and fine tune the machine, they include functions to restore deleted files, diagnose the disk for corrupted data, defragment the disk and clean up and track changes to the Registry. ; (2) Symantec's Enterprise products; (3) Symantec's sales in Europe; and (4) other aspects of Symantec's business. Furthermore, Symantec's financial statements for its first and second quarters of fiscal 1996 (ended June 30 and September 29, 1995) were false and misleading in violation of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles The standard accounting rules, regulations, and procedures used by companies in maintaining their financial records.

Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) provide companies and accountants with a consistent set of guidelines that cover both broad accounting
. These false and misleading statements drove Symantec's stock to a Class Period high of $33-1/4 and enabled (i) Symantec to complete in November 1995 a large acquisition of another software company, Delrina Inc. for 15 million shares of Symantec stock; and (ii) Symantec's insiders to sell 394,555 shares of their Symantec stock at artificially inflated prices as high as $32 per share, realizing over $12 million for themselves, before it was exposed that European sales were weak, sales of Symantec's Windows 95 utility software and Enterprise products were very poor and that, due to huge product returns, Symantec would suffer flat revenue growth in its third quarter of fiscal 1996 (ended December 31, 1995), resulting in a loss, causing its stock to collapse from $22-1/2 to $10-1/8 per share, in just four trading days, on huge volume of 27 million shares -- over 67% of Symantec's public float.

Plaintiffs seek to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Symantec common stock during the Class Period (the "Class"). They are represented by two law firms This list of the world's largest law firms by revenue is taken from The Lawyer and The American Lawyer and is ordered by 2006 revenue:[1]
  1. Clifford Chance, £1,030.2m – International law firm (headquartered in the UK);
  2. Linklaters, £935.
, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP LLP - Lower Layer Protocol  and Kaplan Kilsheimer & Fox, LLP, who have expertise in prosecuting investor class actions and extensive experience in actions involving financial fraud.

Milberg Weiss has been actively engaged in commercial litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute.

When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation.
, emphasizing securities and antitrust class actions, for more than 20 years. The firm has offices in New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
, San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles and is active in major litigation pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States. The firm's reputation for excellence has been recognized on repeated occasions by courts which have appointed the firm to major positions in complex multi-district or consolidated litigations. Milberg Weiss has taken a lead role in numerous important actions on behalf of defrauded investors, and has been responsible for a number of outstanding recoveries which, in the aggregate, total approximately $2 billion. For additional information about Milberg Weiss, see the firm's website at http://www.milberg.com .

If you are a member of the Class described above, you may, no later than 60 days from today, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of the Class, if you so choose. In order to serve as lead plaintiff, however, you must meet certain legal requirements. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiffs' counsel, William Lerach or Helen Hodges of Milberg Weiss at 800/348-6192 or Robert N. Kaplan of Kaplan Kilsheimer at 800/290-1952.

CONTACT: Milberg Weiss

William Lerach or Helen Hodges, 800/348-6192

or

Kaplan Kilsheimer

Robert N. Kaplan, 800/290-1952
COPYRIGHT 1997 Business Wire
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 1997, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Business Wire
Date:Jan 7, 1997
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