Thursday, September 28, 2006

Merix Corp. Complaint Found To Be Lacking In Merit

Merix Corporation (NASDAQ: MERX) announced today that the securities class action lawsuit pending against the company, its directors and four of its officers has been dismissed with prejudice.

The litigation was pending in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon before Judge Michael W. Mosman and was originally filed in June 2004 following the company's May 13, 2004, announcement slashing the company's earnings outlook for the fourth quarter of 2004.

The Central Laborers Pension Fund was appointed as the lead plaintiff and Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP and Stoll Stoll Berne Lokting & Shlachter P.C. were appointed lead and liaison counsel, respectively, in August 2004.

Judge Mosman granted the motion to dismiss the first amended complaint on September 15, 2005, without prejudice, and gave plaintiffs leave to amend their complaint. On November 18, 2005, the lead plaintiff filed a second amended complaint, and Merix again moved to dismiss. The second motion to dismiss was granted, with prejudice, today.

A pair of derivative lawsuits was also filed against certain Merix directors and officers in the Circuit Court for the State of Oregon, Multnomah County. On August 31, 2005, Judge Mosman granted a motion to stay discovery in the derivative action. Thereafter, on September 13, 2005, the state court stayed all proceedings in the derivative lawsuit, including proceedings on a motion to dismiss the consolidated shareholder derivative complaint.

Bruce Carton over at Securities Litigation Watch previously blogged about the Merix litigation, noting that:
the case is just the ninth securities class action filed in that court since the passage of the PSLRA and, following the tentative settlement recently announced in the Electro Scientific case, is the only active securities class action on that court's docket.
Daily Trivia: The District of Oregon's main courthouse, located in Portland, is named for Senator Mark O. Hatfield, and has been nicknamed the "Schick Razor Building" due to the design of the overhanging roof. Senator Hatfield was also the youngest secretary of state in Oregon history and a two-term governor. He retired in 1996, having never lost an election.

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