Case alleging securities fraud set to move forward for class-certification.
SEATTLE, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- This week the U.S. District Court in Seattle found Hagens Berman and plaintiff Robert Burrell most adequate to lead the securities case against Jones Soda Co. (NASDAQ:JSDA). The suit alleges company officers and directors made 'bullish' comments about company success, causing stock to trade on artificially inflated prices.
Judge Robert Lasnick ruled Burrell's alleged losses are significantly greater than the losses suffered by any other proposed plaintiff or group. Three other groups filing against Jones Soda were denied lead plaintiff appointment.
The lawsuit against Jones Soda, originally filed on Sept. 7, 2007, alleges that the company and executives made misleading statements about an expansion into major retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and Kmart, with a new 12-ounce canned soda and a major marketing campaign.
The complaint claims these statements caused Jones Soda stock price to surpass $32 a share April 16, 2007, which more than doubled the company's market value. On Aug. 2, 2007 the company reported significantly lower-than-expected canned soda sales and said it had difficulty getting the new products on retailers' shelves before the Memorial Day holiday.
The problems also caused the company to embargo an advertising campaign, and it "essentially bumbled the launch of Jones Soda 12-ounce cans," the suit says. The stock price, following two quarters of poor earnings results, has fallen 85 percent since hitting the record high in mid-April of 2007.
Anyone with information concerning these allegations can contact Hagens Berman at , 206-623-7292 or visit the Web site at http://www.hbsslaw.com/.
About Hagens Berman Hagens Berman, formerly Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, is based in Seattle with offices in Chicago, Cambridge, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. Since 1993, it has developed a nationally recognized practice in class-action and complex litigation. Among recent successes, HBSS has negotiated a $300 million settlement in the DRAM memory antitrust litigation; a $340 million recovery on behalf of Enron employees; a $150 million settlement involving charges of illegally inflated charges for the drug Lupron, and served as co-counsel on the Visa/Mastercard litigation which resulted in a $3 billion settlement, the largest anti-trust settlement to date. HBSS served as counsel in a $850 million Washington Public Power Supply settlement and represented Washington and 12 other states against the tobacco industry that resulted in the largest settlement in history. For a complete listing of HBSS cases, visit http://www.hbsslaw.com/.
CONTACTS: Steve Berman (206) 623-7292
Hagens Berman
Mark Firmani (206) 443-9357
Firmani + Associates, Inc. DATASOURCE: Hagens Berman CONTACT: Steve Berman of Hagens Berman, +1-206-623-7292, ; or Mark Firmani of Firmani + Associates, Inc., +1-206-443-9357, , for Hagens Berman
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