NEW YORK, June 10, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Abbey Gardy, LLP commenced a Class Action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (C-03-2685), located at 450 Golden Gate Ave, 16th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94102, on behalf of a class (the "Class") of all persons who purchased securities of CornerStone Propane Partners LP ("CornerStone" or the "Company") (Other OTC:CNPP) between November 2, 1999 and February 11, 2003 inclusive (the "Class Period"). The case has been assigned to the Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel.
The Complaint names as defendants CornerStone, Keith Baxter, Richard Nye, Ronald J. Goedde and Curtis Solsvig, III. The Complaint alleges that defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, by issuing a series of material misrepresentations to the market during the Class Period thereby artificially inflating the price of CornerStone securities.
More specifically, the Complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants reported false and misleading financial results and made false statements concerning CornerStone's financial status and business condition, and failed to disclose: (i) that CornerStone had been systematically concealing that it was overpaying for acquisitions made as early as 1997 by improperly misallocating portions of the purchase price of physical assets which should have been allocated to goodwill; (ii) that it was materially overstating its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, its net income and its earnings per unit; and (iii) that CornerStone lacked adequate internal controls and was therefore unable to ascertain or report the true financial condition of the Partnership.
On February 11, 2003, the Partnership revealed in its 8-K filed with SEC that it had to restate its financial results for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 due to the Partnership's knowledge of known errors in reporting its financial results for fiscal years 2000 and 2001. In response to this announcement, the price of CornerStone securities declined precipitously.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all those who purchased or otherwise acquired CornerStone's securities during the Class Period. If you purchased or otherwise acquired CornerStone's securities during the Class Period, and either lost money on the transaction or still hold the securities, you may wish to join in the action to serve as lead plaintiff. If you purchased CornerStone's securities during the Class Period, you may, no later than July 28, 2003 request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff.
A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as "lead plaintiffs.'' Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.
Abbey Gardy, LLP has been retained as one of the law firms to represent the Class. The attorneys at Abbey Gardy, LLP have extensive experience in securities class action cases, and have played lead roles in major cases resulting in the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars to investors. If you would like to discuss this action or if you have any questions concerning this Notice or your rights as a potential class member or lead plaintiff, you may contact Damon Williams or Nancy Kaboolian Esq. of Abbey Gardy, LLP at (212) 889-3700 or 800-889-3701. Or e-mail us at dwilliams@abbeygardy.com or nkaboolian@abbeygardy.com
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca