Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP Announces Important Victory Against Taubman Centers, Inc.
17 Junio 2004 - 4:08PM
PR Newswire (US)
Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP Announces Important
Victory Against Taubman Centers, Inc. NEW YORK, June 17
/PRNewswire/ -- The law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad &
Schulman LLP announced today a significant legal victory in its
lawsuit against members of the Taubman Centers, Inc. ("TCO") Board
of Directors in connection with an appeal pending in the Federal
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal arose from the dismissal
of a federal district court action challenging the defensive
measures of the TCO Board, which includes members of the Taubman
family, in seeking to fend off a premium-priced hostile acquisition
offer made last year by Simon Property Group, Inc. ("SPG"). At the
heart of the case is plaintiff's claims that members of the Taubman
family and their allies were using shares issued to them in a 1998
restructuring of TCO to effectively block the SPG offer. The
district court judge dismissed the case on technical jurisdictional
grounds, ruling that the shareholder plaintiff's claims could not
be brought in a federal court because the plaintiff and a
Taubman-controlled partnership not named as a defendant were
citizens of the same state. In reversing the district court's
decision, the Sixth Circuit reasoned that the federal district
court could consider the dispute if A. Alfred Taubman, TCO's
founder who was not a named as a defendant in the original lawsuit,
could be found to adequately represent the interests of the absent
partnership, rendering it unnecessary to name that entity as a
defendant. The Sixth Circuit remanded the lawsuit to the Eastern
District of Michigan for further proceedings consistent with its
opinion. Steven G. Schulman, the Milberg Weiss partner who argued
the appeal, said today that he "was extremely pleased with the
outcome." Mr. Schulman also said that he, in conjunction with the
other counsel in the case, "were confident that any procedural
obstacles to maintenance of the suit in the court below could be
overcome" and that they were "enthusiastic about litigating the
merits of plaintiff's claims to vindicate public shareholders'
rights to decide for themselves, free of coercion, whether or not
to accept a premium offer for their shares." Milberg Weiss Bershad
& Schulman LLP is a 110-lawyer firm with main headquarters in
New York City and other offices nationwide, including Boca Raton,
FL, Wilmington, DE, Washington, D.C., Seattle, WA and Los Angeles,
CA. The firm that Melvyn I. Weiss and Lawrence Milberg founded in
1965 will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year. The firm has
been actively engaged in defending the rights of victims of
wrongdoing, emphasizing securities, corporate, consumer, insurance,
healthcare, human rights, employment discrimination and antitrust
class actions. The firm's reputation for excellence has been
recognized on repeated occasions by courts that have appointed it
to major positions in complex multi-district or consolidated
litigations. Milberg Weiss has successfully prosecuted thousands of
class action lawsuits, has taken a lead role in numerous complex
litigations on behalf of defrauded investors, consumers and
companies, as well as victims of World War II human rights
violations, and has been responsible for more than $45 billion in
recoveries. For more information, please visit
http://www.milbergweiss.com/ DATASOURCE: Milberg Weiss Bershad
& Schulman LLP CONTACT: Brigitte Rudman of Milberg Weiss
Bershad & Schulman LLP, +1-212-631-8680 - office, or
+1-917-705-6365 - mobile Web site: http://www.milbergweiss.com/
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