HARTFORD, Conn., Nov. 7, 2007 LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire — The law firm of Schatz Nobel Izard P.C., which has significant experience representing investors in prosecuting claims of securities fraud, announces that a lawsuit seeking class action status has been filed in the United States
District Court for the Southern District of Florida on behalf of all
persons who purchased the common stock of Office Depot, Inc. (“Office
Depot” or the “Company”) (NYSE:ODP) between April 26, 2007 and October
26, 2007, inclusive (the “Class Period”).
The Complaint charges that Office Depot and certain of its officers and
directors violated federal securities laws. Specifically, defendants
knew but concealed the following: (i) Office Depot failed to properly
account for its vendor rebates; (ii) the Company’s efforts to improve
its gross margin by reducing its labor costs also led to a reduction in
customer service levels resulting in a loss of customers; and (iii)
given the more intense competition Office Depot was experiencing from
OfficeMax and Staples and the Company’s aggressive pricing to boost
technology sales, the Company had no reasonable basis to make
projections about its ability to maintain its gross margin.
On October 29, 2007, before the market opened, Office Depot announced
that it had to delay the distribution of its third-quarter earnings
release and related conference call and webcast, previously scheduled
to take place on October 30, 2007, due to an independent review by the
Audit Committee of the Company’s vendor program funds, relating
principally to the timing of the recognition of certain vendor program
funds. On this news, Office Depot’s stock fell $2.86 per share to close
at $17.43 per share, a decline of nearly 14%. During the Class Period,
Office Depot stock traded as high as $36.41 per share on June 4, 2007.
If you are a member of the class, you may, no later than January 4,
2008, request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff of the
class. A lead plaintiff is a class member that acts on behalf of other
class members in directing the litigation. Although your ability to
share in any recovery is not affected by the decision whether or not to
seek appointment as a lead plaintiff, lead plaintiffs make important
decisions which could affect the overall recovery for class members,
including decisions concerning settlement. The securities laws require
the Court to consider the class member(s) with the largest financial
interest as presumptively the most adequate lead plaintiff(s).
While Schatz Nobel Izard P.C. has not filed a lawsuit against the
defendants, to view a copy of the Complaint initiating the class action
or for more information about the case, class action cases in general,
and your rights, please contact Schatz Nobel Izard P.C. toll-free at
(800) 797-5499, or by e-mail at firm@snilaw.com, or visit our website:
www.snilaw.com.
