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Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Files Class Action
Class Action News |
2012/03/01 17:56
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Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP today announced that a class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of CNOOC Limited American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) during the period between January 27, 2011 and September 16, 2011.
If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff’s counsel, Darren Robbins of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at djr@rgrdlaw.com. If you are a member of this class, you can view a copy of the complaint as filed or join this class action online at http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/cnooc/. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.
The complaint charges CNOOC and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. CNOOC is China’s biggest offshore state oil company. CNOOC co-owns the Penglai 19-3 (“PL 19-3”) oilfield in northern Bohai Bay with ConocoPhillips China Inc. (“ConocoPhillips”) as its operator.
The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business and financial results. As a result of defendants’ false statements, CNOOC’s ADSs traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, reaching a high of US$270.64 per ADS on April 4, 2011.
On June 4, 2011, an oil spill occurred at the PL 19-3 oilfield. A second spill occurred at the PL 19-3 oilfield on June 17, 2011. The complaint alleges that CNOOC and ConocoPhillips failed to disclose the spills when they occurred. However, despite CNOOC’s attempts to conceal the news, news of the spills began to leak into the market. On July 5, 2011, the State Oceanic Administration (“SOA”), China’s coastal regulator, officially acknowledged the spills had occurred. Thereafter, CNOOC downplayed the extent of the damage done by the oil spills and the impact it would have on CNOOC’s operations. On September 2, 2011, the SOA announced that it had ordered CNOOC and ConocoPhillips to immediately suspend all oil production at the PL 19-3 oilfield. On September 6, 2011, it was announced that CNOOC and ConocoPhillips would establish a Bohai Bay fund to address the environmental impact of the oil spills. On this news, CNOOC’s ADSs declined US$9.39 per ADS on September 6, 2011. Then, on September 18, 2011, it was announced that CNOOC and ConocoPhillips would establish a second Bohai Bay fund. On this news, CNOOC’s ADSs declined another US$6.85 per ADS on September 19, 2011.
According to the complaint, the true facts, which were known by the defendants but concealed from the investing public during the Class Period, were as follows: (a) the Company was not in compliance with environmental laws and regulations; (b) as news of the oil spills emerged, the Company concealed the extent and severity of the oil spills; (c) as news of the oil spills emerged, the Company downplayed its responsibility to effect the cleanup of the oil spills as it portrayed itself as being the “non-operator” of the oilfield; (d) the Company improperly accounted for its contingent liabilities in violation of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles; and (e) based on the foregoing, defendants lacked a reasonable basis for their positive statements about the Company’s operations and its expected oil production.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of CNOOC ADSs during the Class Period (the “Class”). The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has expertise in prosecuting investor class actions and extensive experience in actions involving financial fraud.
www.rgrdlaw.com |
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Sudan's defense minister sought by int'l court
Legal World News |
2012/03/01 14:56
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The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Thursday for Sudan's defense minister, the third senior regime official sought by the court for alleged involvement in atrocities in Darfur.
The court announced it wants Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein arrested on a warrant containing seven counts of crimes against humanity and six war crimes including murder, persecution, rape and torture. The charges cover 41 different incidents, the court said.
Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked judges for the warrant in December, saying Hussein is among those who "bear greatest criminal responsibility" for atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region from August 2003 to March 2004.
Sudan does not recognize the court and refuses to hand over suspects including President Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of genocide in Darfur. His government denounced Moreno-Ocampo's request for an arrest warrant for Hussein in December.
At the time covered by the charges, Hussein was interior minister and the Sudan government's special representative in Darfur. |
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Back Pay Award Reduced Based on Laches in Class Action
Headline News |
2012/03/01 11:56
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The Indiana Supreme Court recently decided what could prove to be a landmark decision on the doctrine of laches in Richmond State Hospital v. Brattain, Cause No. 49S02-1106-CV-327. If you are dealing with a case involving laches, this decision is a must read.
In this class action, employees who worked in "state institutions" claimed that the State had breached its contractual duty to provide equal pay for equal work by requiring that they work 40 hours per week for the same pay as employees in "state offices" who were only required to work 37.5 hours per week. The trial court found in favor of the employees and awarded 20 years of back pay, amounting to $42,422,788. The Court of Appeals reduced that award substantially by limiting back pay to a few months for merit employees but for non-merit employees, affirmed a recovery for 20 years of damages or about $18.7 million.
The Indiana Supreme Court granted transfer and then failed to reach a majority on numerous issues, dividing 2-2. Justice Sullivan did not participate, presumably because he served as State Budget Director during the period in dispute. As a result of the 2-2 split, the Supreme Court summarily affirmed the Court of Appeals on the merit employees' claims. As to the non-merit employees, the Supreme Court was able to reach a consensus, largely in favor of the State's laches defense. |
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House acts against high court on eminent domain
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/02/29 17:33
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The House sought Tuesday to undercut a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that gives state and local governments eminent domain authority to seize private property for economic development projects.
Sponsors of the bill, which passed by a voice vote, said it was needed because the 5-4 high court ruling skewed constitutional intentions that eminent domain apply only to land for public use projects.
That ruling, said bill cosponsor Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., justified "the government's taking of private property and giving it to a private business for use in the interest of creating a more lucrative tax base." As a result, he said, the "government's power of eminent domain has become almost limitless, providing citizens with few means to protect their property."
His legislation would withhold for two years all federal development aid to states or locales that take private property for economic development. It also bars the federal government from using eminent domain for economic development purposes and gives private property owners the right to take legal action if provisions of the legislation are violated. |
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Sidley Austin LLP Expands Project Finance Practice
Law Firm News |
2012/02/29 14:33
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Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that Timothy J. Moran will join the firm as a partner in the project finance practice in Washington, D.C. Mr. Moran's practice focuses on infrastructure project development and finance, where he represents lenders, project sponsors and developers in the development, financing, acquisition and sale of infrastructure projects located in North America, Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Mr. Moran's projects include alternative energy (wind, solar and biomass), coal and natural gas-fired facilities, natural gas storage facilities, LNG projects and natural gas pipelines.
"Tim's level of experience in project finance will be instrumental as we continue to expand the firm's ability to represent clients on what are certainly going to be important undertakings in the global economy," said Carter G. Phillips, Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C. office of Sidley, and a member of the firm's Management Committee. "He has a highly respected and very dynamic project finance practice that fits perfectly with the firm's significant expansion of its energy practice, as well as our enhancement of project finance capabilities. Tim's practice will be a wonderful complement to our newly established Houston office."
"Sidley provides an ideal opportunity for me to grow my practice on an international platform that is already successful but very well equipped for new opportunities," said Mr. Moran. "I look forward to working with the project finance team in Washington, New York, Houston and Los Angeles, as well as Sidley's highly regarded energy and environmental lawyers in Washington and Houston."
Mr. Moran represents lenders in construction and term financings and equity investors in private placements and tax-based equity investments. Mr. Moran is currently representing both developers and lenders in the structuring and financing of wind, solar and mid-stream oil and gas projects, to be located in the U.S., Latin America and Canada.
With respect to developers, Mr. Moran has represented both large and small sponsors in the development and financing of infrastructure projects throughout North America, Central America, South America, China and numerous countries in Europe and Africa. He has also represented developers in connection with bids on more than 90 major power facilities, acquisitions of individual and portfolios of power facilities, and of gas storage facilities and pipelines. Mr. Moran has also represented developers and lenders in asset sales, as well as whole and partial sales of interests in energy-related companies.
www.rubenstein.com |
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French court rules genocide law unconstitutional
Legal World News |
2012/02/29 10:34
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France's Constitutional Council ruled Tuesday that a French law concerning the mass killings of Armenians a century ago violates the country's constitution.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had personally backed the law, immediately said he would ask the government to prepare a new bill taking into account the council's ruling.
The law passed by France's parliament in December makes it a crime to deny that the killings of some 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 constituted genocide. The council ruled the law would violate freedom of expression and speech, which are guaranteed by the French constitution.
Turkey, which says there was no systematic campaign against Armenians, has strongly opposed the French law.
The head of a French Armenian organization, meanwhile, sharply criticized the ruling, saying it was the result of Turkish lobbying.
Relations between France and Turkey have suffered since the law's passage, with Turkey suspending its military and economic cooperation with France after the lower house approval of the measure in December. The French Senate gave the law the green light in late January. |
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