BALA CYNWYD, Pa., Oct. 14, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Shareholders of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Technology Fund shares, of all four share classes Nasdaq: TEKAX through TEKDX, who desire to serve as a lead plaintiff in a shareholder class action lawsuit now pending in federal court in New York (02-CV-6935) must submit an application with the Court by October 21, 2002 according to the law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP.
The lawsuit seeks damages for violations of the federal securities laws on behalf of all investors who purchased Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Technology Fund shares September 25, 2000 through July 31, 2002 (the "Class Period").
Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP has prosecuted shareholder class actions for over fourteen years and has recovered more than $1 billion for investors. If you are a shareholder of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Technology Fund and want to learn more about this lawsuit and about becoming a lead plaintiff, you may visit our website at http://www.sbclasslaw.com/cgi/signup.cgi.
The complaint alleges that the New York-based Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. 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 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).
If you purchased Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Technology Fund shares September 25, 2000 through July 31, 2002, you may be a member of the class and have until October 21, 2002 to move the court to become a lead plaintiff. In order to serve as lead plaintiff, however, you must meet certain legal requirements. To be a member of the class, however, you do not need to take any action at this time. Should you decide to seek appointment as a lead plaintiff, you may retain Schiffrin & Barroway, or retain counsel of your choice.
To learn more about your rights and interests in this case and your ability to potentially recoup your losses, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway (Marc A. Topaz, Esq. or Stuart L. Berman, Esq.) directly at 888-299-7706 (toll free) or 610-822-2221, fax number 610-822-0002, e-mail at info@sbclasslaw.com or visit our website at www.sbclasslaw.com.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca