U.S. District Court Rejects Class Members' Motion to Disqualify the Appointed Plaintiff as Lead Plaintiff in Suit Against Dendreon Corp 03/15/2008 The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington rejected a group of class members' motion to disqualify the plaintiff who was appointed as the lead plaintiff in a securities fraud class action, finding there was no evidence that the plaintiff's post-class period transactions rebutted the plaintiff's presumed adequacy as the lead plaintiff. Shareholders of Dendreon Corp. sued the company and its individual officers and directors alleging that the defendants made material misstatements and omissions related to the development of a drug known as Provenge. The shareholders made claims under §§ 10(b) and 20(a), and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The district court consolidated six individual suits into one action and appointed Kenneth McGuire, the individual with the largest financial interest in the litigation, as lead plaintiff and McGuire's counsel as the lead counsel. Another group of plaintiffs, collectively referred to as the Mountanos Group, moved to disqualify McGuire as the lead plaintiff because McGuire was an investor and former director of other unrelated biotech companies, creating the possibility that McGuire could have traded upon material nonpublic information. The district court rejected the argument. The Group moved for reconsideration of its motion based on the fact that McGuire entered into a consulting agreement with Dendreon to receive $1,000 per day and 2.5 million stock options in Dendreon after the class period.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.