RADNOR, Pa., May 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Kessler Topaz
Meltzer & Check, LLP announces that the firm has filed a
shareholder class action against Trinity Industries, Inc. (NYSE:
TRN) ("Trinity" or the "Company") in the United States District
Court for the Eastern District of Texas on behalf of purchasers of the Company's
securities between February 20, 2014
and April 29, 2015, inclusive (the
"Class Period").
For additional information about this lawsuit, or to request
information about this action online, please visit
http://www.ktmc.com/case/TrinityIndustries.
Shareholders who wish to discuss this action and their legal
options are encouraged to contact Kessler Topaz Meltzer &
Check, LLP (Darren J. Check, Esq.,
D. Seamus Kaskela, Esq. or
Adrienne O. Bell, Esq.) at (888)
299-7706 or at info@ktmc.com.
Trinity is a diversified industrial company that owns a variety
of businesses which provide products and services to the energy,
transportation, chemical, and construction sectors. Through a
wholly-owned subsidiary, the Company manufactures, among other
things, "highway products" that are sold throughout the U.S.,
Canada, and Mexico. One of
the highway products manufactured and sold by Trinity is the
ET-Plus guardrail system, which is installed on highways across the
nation.
As detailed in the Complaint, on October
20, 2014, the jury hearing a federal whistleblower case
filed against the Company (United
States ex rel. Harman v. Trinity
Ind., Inc., No. 2:12-cv-00089-JRG (E.D. Tex.)) found that Trinity had violated the
False Claims Act by making a series of false claims to the
government about its ET-Plus system. As reported by
Bloomberg, the jury found that Trinity "deliberately
withheld information from the U.S. about cost-saving changes to its
highway guardrail system that made it more dangerous," and ruled
that "the company defrauded the government out of $175 million." Following the news of the
jury's verdict against Trinity, shares of the Company's stock
declined $4.45 per share, or more
than 12%, to close on October 20,
2014 at $31.63 per share, on
heavy trading volume.
On April 22, 2015,
Bloomberg reported that Trinity's ET-Plus system was the
subject of a U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") federal criminal
probe. The article further reported that "federal
investigators are interviewing potential witnesses about issues
including Trinity's relationship with the [Federal Highway
Administration ("FHWA")]," and that "[i]nvestigators from a public
corruption and special prosecutions unit of the Justice Department
have subpoenaed documents from court battles involving Trinity's
ET-Plus on behalf of a grand jury." On this news, shares of
the Company's stock declined $3.43
per share, or over 9%, to close on April 22,
2015 at $32.82 per share.
On April 24, 2015, Trinity's
executives confirmed that the DOJ was investigating the
Company. Also on April 24,
2015, Trinity filed its Quarterly Report with the Securities
and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and reported that Company had been
named in several class action lawsuits filed by municipalities in
both the U.S. and Canada for its
conduct with respect to the ET-Plus system. On this news,
shares of the Company's stock declined an additional $4.66 per share, or nearly 14%, to close on
April 24, 2015 at $28.70 per share.
Finally, on April 29, 2015,
Bloomberg reported that Trinity had received a subpoena from
the DOJ "over its allegedly defective guardrail safety system"
seeking "documents from 1999 and later regarding Trinity's
guardrail end terminals...." On this news, shares of the
Company's stock declined an additional $0.98 per share, or nearly 3.5%, to close on
April 30, 2015 at $27.09 per share.
The Complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Trinity
and certain of its executive officers failed to disclose material
adverse facts about the Company's financial well-being, business
relationships, and prospects. Specifically, defendants failed
to disclose, inter alia, that: (1) Trinity had improperly
obtained FHWA approval of the modified ET-Plus system in 2005 by,
among other things, failing to disclose certain changes it had made
to the ET-Plus system and conducting insufficient crash testing on
the modified product; (2) Trinity had manipulated the FHWA's
approval process for the modified ET-Plus system; and (3) such
conduct caused the Company to violate the False Claims Act,
exposing it to significant civil liabilities, criminal
investigation, and bans of the ET-Plus system. As a result of
the foregoing, the defendants' statements about the Company's
financial well-being and future business prospects were lacking in
a reasonable basis when made.
If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions
concerning this notice or your rights or interests with respect to
these matters, please contact Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check
(Darren J. Check, Esq., D. Seamus Kaskela, Esq. or Adrienne O. Bell, Esq.) at (888) 299 – 7706 or
(610) 667 – 7706, or via e-mail at info@ktmc.com. For
additional information about the lawsuit, or to request information
about the action, please visit
http://www.ktmc.com/case/TrinityIndustries.
Members of the class may, no later than June 29, 2015, petition the Court for
appointment as a lead plaintiff of the class. A lead
plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of other
class members in directing the litigation. In order to be
appointed as a 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 in the action. Your ability to share in any recovery is
not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a 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 do nothing and remain an absent class
member.
The plaintiff in the shareholder class action filed against
Trinity is represented by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check,
LLP. The plaintiff's Complaint is captioned as Nemky v.
Trinity Industries, Inc., et al., No. 2:15-cv-00732
(E.D. Tex). Kessler Topaz
Meltzer & Check prosecutes class actions in state and federal
courts throughout the country. Kessler Topaz Meltzer &
Check is a driving force behind corporate governance reform, and
has recovered billions of dollars on behalf of institutional and
individual investors from the United
States and around the world. The firm represents
investors, consumers and whistleblowers (private citizens who
report fraudulent practices against the government and share in the
recovery of government dollars). For more information about
Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, or for additional information
about participating in this action, please visit www.ktmc.com.
CONTACT:
Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP
Darren J. Check, Esq.
D. Seamus Kaskela, Esq.
Adrienne O. Bell, Esq.
280 King of Prussia Road
Radnor, PA 19087
(888) 299 - 7706
(610) 667 - 7706
info@ktmc.com
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SOURCE Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP