WASHINGTON, March 30, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The law firm of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C. has filed a lawsuit on behalf of its client and on behalf of purchasers of the securities of ChoicePoint, Inc. (NYSE:CPS) ("ChoicePoint" or the "Company") between March 12, 2004 and March 3, 2005, inclusive (the "Class Period"), in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
The lawsuit charges ChoicePoint and certain executive officers of ChoicePoint with violations of federal securities laws. ChoicePoint provides identification and credential verification services to business, government and individual customers. The Complaint alleges that during the Class Period, the defendants issued false and misleading statements concerning the security of the Company's systems, its results, and operations. Prior to and during the Class Period, ChoicePoint suffered breaches of its systems wherein consumer information was obtained by criminals. At the same time that ChoicePoint's security breaches were concealed, two top executive officers sold more than $15 million worth of their ChoicePoint stock.
The Complaint further alleges that the true facts, which were known by each of the defendants but concealed from the investing public during the Class Period, were as follows: (a) ChoicePoint's customer credentialing procedures were inadequate and ineffective at limiting the dissemination of information to only authorized users; (b) ChoicePoint did not have the proper audit procedures in place to verify that the Company was properly limiting the dissemination of information to only authorized users; (c) ChoicePoint did not have the proper fraud detection procedures in place in order to timely detect fraudulent activity in case a breach did occur; (d) ChoicePoint's security had been breached in similar fashion on at least two prior occasions, once in 2000 and again in 2002; and (e) due to ChoicePoint's failures to maintain proper security measures, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to the risk of identity theft.
Following disclosure to the market that ChoicePoint's databases had been accessed by criminals on February 15, 2005, and that prior breaches had occurred at ChoicePoint, the stock fell from a high of $47.95 per share during the Class Period to as low as $37.65 per share on March 4, 2005. If you purchased or acquired ChoicePoint securities during the Class Period, you may, no later than May 3, 2005, move the court to be appointed as Lead Plaintiff. There are certain legal requirements to serve as Lead Plaintiff.
Any member of the purported class may move the court to serve as Lead Plaintiff through counsel of their choice or may choose to remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as Lead Plaintiff. To be a member of the class, you need not take any action at this time.
A copy of the Complaint is available at the website of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C., at www.cmht.com.
If you have any questions about this notice or the action, or with regard to your rights, please contact either of the following:
Steven J. Toll, Esq. Robert Smits Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C. 1100 New York Avenue, N.W. West Tower - Suite 500 Washington, D.C. 20005 Telephone: (888) 240-0775 or (202) 408-4600 E-mail: stoll@cmht.com or rsmits@cmht.com
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca