NEW YORK, Sept. 17, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- The law firm of Wechsler Harwood LLP filed a class action lawsuit on August 29, 2002 on behalf of all persons who purchased any of all four classes of shares of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Technology Fund (the "Fund") (Nasdaq:TEKAX) from the public offering for the Fund on September 25, 2000 through July 31, 2002, inclusive (the "Class Period") against Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. ("MSDW"), Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Technology Fund and others for violations of Sections 11, 12 and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 and of Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Technology Fund recently changed its name to the Morgan Stanley Technology Fund.
The defendants were: (1) the underwriters for the common stock of certain of the companies in the Technology Fund's portfolio; (2) the investment bankers and corporate finance specialists for certain of the companies whose securities are in the Fund's portfolio; (3) seeking to obtain additional investment banking business from these present and former clients and from other companies whose shares also were/are in the Fund's portfolio; (4) the issuers of the shares in the Fund; (5) preparing and publicly disseminating research reports and recommendations on many of the companies whose shares were in the Fund's portfolio; and (6) the broker for certain members of the Class.
This action arises as a result of the issuance by the defendants of shares in the Fund, and concerns material misstatements and omissions by defendants in the Prospectus, relating to defendants' conflicts of interest, which include but are not limited to the following: (1) defendants failed to disclose and omitted material information that MSDW had investment banking relationships with, including having brought public, certain of the companies whose securities were part of the Fund's portfolio. Defendants disclosed neither this general fact nor the identities of the particular companies with which it had investment banking relationships; (2) defendants failed to disclose and omitted material information concerning that MSDW was continuing to seek investment banking relationships with many of the companies whose securities were part of the Fund's portfolio; and (3) defendants failed to disclose and omitted material information concerning that a material part of the total compensation paid to MSDW research analysts was based upon obtaining investment banking business for MSDW and not upon the accuracy of their research about a given company. Hence, MSDW and its affiliated companies, including the Fund, recommended investments in and/or invested in companies in order to enhance MSDW's opportunity to obtain investment banking business from those companies (without regard to whether they were good investments for the investors including plaintiffs and the Class).
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages or rescission on behalf of all those who purchased shares of any class of the Fund during the Class Period. If you purchased shares 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 shares during the Class Period, you may, no later than October 21, 2002, 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 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. You may retain Wechsler Harwood, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action.
Wechsler Harwood has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded shareholders. The Wechsler Harwood website (www.whhf.com) has more information about the firm. If you wish to discuss this action with us, or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights and interests with regard to the case, please contact the following:
Wechsler Harwood LLP 488 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10022 Toll Free Telephone: (877) 935-7400 Ramon Pinon, Wechsler Harwood Shareholder Relations Department: rpinoniv@whhf.com
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca