AuthenTec announced today that the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida granted its motion to dismiss the shareholder class action lawsuit filed against it and certain of its officers. The court dismissed plaintiffs’ amended complaint with prejudice.
U.S. District Judge John Antoon II agreed with defendants’ argument that all of the alleged misstatements contained in the Amended Complaint constituted protected forward-looking statements. The court ruled that
The cautionary statements in the press releases, the conference calls, and related SEC filings warned “of risks of a significance similar to that actually realized.” See Harris, 182 F.3d at 807. The Court finds that these forward-looking statements were accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements. Accordingly, Defendants’ state of mind is irrelevant, and no Defendant can be found liable for these forward-looking statements.
The court also found that the Amended Complaint did not adequately plead causation because the plaintiff “does not allege a sufficient causal connection between [CEO] Moody’s misleading statement and the decline in share price approximately ten months later.”
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