NEW YORK, Feb. 5, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Wechsler Harwood LLP today announced that it has filed a Federal Securities fraud class action on behalf of persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired the securities of Micromuse, Inc. ("Micromuse" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:MUSEE) between October 24, 2000 and December 30, 2003, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The action, entitled Patterson v. Micromuse, Inc., et al., Case No. not yet assigned, is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and names as defendants, Micromuse as well as certain of its senior officers and directors, Lloyd Carney, Michael Luetkemeyer, Stephen A. Allott, Gregory Q. Brown, and David A. Wise. A copy of the Complaint is available from the court or from the Wechsler Harwood LLP website at www.whesq.com.
The Complaint charges the defendants with violations of federal securities laws. Among other things, plaintiffs claim that defendants' dissemination of materially false and misleading statements concerning Micromuse's financial performance caused the Company's stock price to become artificially inflated, inflicting damages on investors. Micromuse develops, markets and supports a family of scalable software solutions that enable the effective monitoring of the status of multiple devices and elements underlying an information technology service delivery infrastructure. The complaint alleges that during the Class Period defendants caused Micromuse to report in its public filings, press releases and other public statements favorable financial results by misrepresenting the Company's financial performance. Plaintiffs claim these statements were materially false and misleading because they failed to disclose and/or misrepresented the following adverse facts, among others: (i) that the Company had improperly accounted for the timing of certain accrued expenses and the recognition of certain other expenses; (ii) that the Company lacked adequate internal controls and was therefore unable to ascertain the true financial condition of the Company; and (iii) that as a result, the values of the Company's net income and financial results were materially overstated at all relevant times.
If you purchased or otherwise acquired the securities of Micromuse during the Class Period, you may request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff no later than March 15, 2004. 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 plaintiff." 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.whesq.com) has more information about the firm and detailed information regarding this matter. 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.