Symbol Technologies Inc., Holtsville, N.Y., will pay at least $139 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by pension plans in Miami and Louisiana claiming the firm inflated its profits between February 2000 and October 2002. Lead plaintiffs - the $1.1 billion Louisiana Municipal Police Employees' System and $1 billion Sheriffs' Pension & Relief Fund, both of Baton Rouge, and the $650 million Miami General Employees' & Sanitation Employees' Retirement Trust - lost a combined $2.5 million on purchases of Symbol common stock, the suit said.
As part of the settlement, Symbol will repay class members $96 million in common stock and $5.8 million in cash, attorneys for the lead plaintiffs announced today. Symbol also agreed to pay $37 million into a joint compensation fund, to be used to pay the claims of class members, the attorneys said. The settlement is subject to preliminary approval from JudgeLeonard Wexler, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, which is expected on June 8, said Jeffrey Block, partner with Berman DeValerio Pease Tabacco Burt & Pucillo, one of the law firms representing the lead plaintiffs.
