Grant Law Firm

Pep Boys (PBY: NYSE)

rgatling — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:19:15 +0000

Pep Boys (“Pep Boys” or the “Company”) announced January 30, 2012 that it was going private through a transaction in which the Gore Group would purchase all of the Company’s outstanding stock at $15 per share or approximately $804 million. Company stockholders do not believe that the buyout price is fair, and it is barely above the 52 week high.

The Grant Law Firm is presently investigating whether the Company’s board of directors has
breached or will breach its fiduciary duties in having put its own interests
above those of the Company’s shareholders.

If you or a client is interested in learning more about these investigations, contact us.

Exco Resources, Inc. (XCO: NYQ)

rgatling — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:43:46 +0000

On November 3, 2010, EXCO Resources, Inc. (“EXCO” or the “Company”) entered into
an agreement to go private with its chief executive officer, Douglas Miller (“Miller”), and major
shareholder and board member, T. Boone Pickens (“Pickens”) (the “Buy-out Offer”). The Buy-
out Offer provides shareholders with $20.50 per share, for a total purchase price of $4.36 billion.
A special committee (“Special Committee”) of only two board members was created to bless the
terms of the deal with Miller—who, along with Pickens, controls almost 30% of the Company’s
outstanding stock. At least five of the Company’s seven board members are connected to the
bid.

Miller previously took the Company private in 2003 for $18 per share, and then took the
Company public in 2006, and thus has a history of taking the Company private and then public,
when he believes that he can profit.

The Company has traded well above the $20.50 offering price in the past and is involved
in the natural gas industry. Moreover, on November 15, 2010, the Company entered into
indemnification agreements with the two members of the Special Committee, agreeing to have
the Company indemnify them for any judgments arising out of the Buy-out Offer.

The GrantLawFirm, PLLC is presently investigating a potential action against the board
for breach of its fiduciary duties. If you or a client is interested in becoming involved, please
contact us.

Attorneys

admin — Thu, 05 May 2011 00:55:08 +0000

Lynda J. Grant

Lynda J. Grant is an accomplished lawyer with almost 30 years of experience representing shareholders, limited partners and consumers in class actions and derivative suits. Before commencing THEGRANTLAWFIRM, Ms. Grant was a partner in two major plaintiffs’ class actions firms. Her practice was and continues to run the gamut from large securities fraud cases, to derivative action, to cases seeking to enjoin unfair buy outs, acquisitions and mergers. She has also represented employees and pensioners in ERISA class actions. Her clients have included individual shareholders, limited partners, sophisticated hedge fund managers, major state, local and city pension funds, and union funds.

Her early career centered on representing limited partners who were subject to unfair tender offers by their general partners, and by way of those cases, she significantly shaped the fiduciary duty law in Delaware governing the rights of limited partners. More recently, she has been involved in litigating major securities class actions in which class members were able to recover tens of millions of dollars in damages. She has significant expertise in litigating shareholder and limited partner derivative actions, including handling seven year litigation against Canadian financial giant, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, in which she successfully tried a books and records action, and beat both a motion to dismiss and summary judgment action.

She is well known in the merger and acquisition area as well, having helped obtain an injunction of a $160 million defensive recapitalization of Arvida/JMB, and commencing the action In Re Real Estate Associates Limited Partnership, which eventually resulted in a $184 million jury trial.

She was also lead counsel in the following transaction cases:

In re Alfa Corp. S’holders Litig., Cir. Ct. Ala., Montgomery Co., CV-07-900485 (Price, J.)

In re Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. S’holders Litig., Del. Ch., Cons. C.A. No. 385 (Parsons, V.C.)

In re Countrywide Corp. S’holders Litig., Del. Ch., Cons. C.A. No. 3464 (Noble, V.C.)

In re Genentech, Inc. S’holders Litig., Del. Ch., Cons. C.A. No. 3911 (Strine, V.C.)

In re NYMEX S’holders Litig., Del. Ch., Cons. C.A. No. 3621 (Noble, V.C.)

In re Republic Services, Inc. Litig., Del. Ch., C.A. No. 3923-CC

In re Take Two Interactive Software, Inc., Del. Ch., C.A. No. 3604 (Lamb, V.C.)

In re Yahoo! Shareholder Litig., Del. Ch., C.A. No. 3561 (Chandler, C.)

Ms. Grant is often sought after speaker on securities litigation and corporate governance issues was recently interviewed on the Dylan Ratigan Show concerning the action Brown v. Goldman Sachs. She is presently the co-chairperson of the American Bar Association’s Securities Litigation Committee, and is the former co-chairperson of the American Bar Association’s Class Actions and Derivative Suits Committee.

Professional Leadership

Co-chairperson of the American Bar Associations’ Class Actions and Derivative Suits Committee

Member of Task Force on the Future of Civil Litigation

Member of Task Force on the Promulgation of Cross Border Protocols between the U.S. and Canadian Class Actions

Professional Organizations

American Bar Association

Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (“PIABA”)

Lectures/Panels

ABA Annual Meeting: Hawaii: 2007: “It’s a Small World After All”- international securities panel

Clayton Utz Annual Meeting: Sydney: 2007: U.S. Class Action Seminar—seminar given to Australian attorneys regarding U.S. class action system

Continuing Education Panel: Telephonic: 2007: The Impact of In re Polymedica Corp. Sec. Litig.

ABA Section Annual Meeting: Chicago: 2008: Issues in Class Action—debate with defense counsel regarding current class action issues

National Institute on Class Actions: New York: 2008: U.S. Class Actions versus Canadian Class Actions

ABA Section Annual Meeting: New York: 2009: Issues Regarding International Securities Litigation

ABA Section Annual Meeting: New York: to be held in April 2010: Twombly versus Conley: The Fight of the Century—panel host

Representative Cases

In re St. Paul Travelers Sec. Litig., Civ. 04-3801 (JRT), 2006 WL 1116118 (D. Minn. April 25, 2006)(securities fraud action)

In re DHB Industries, Inc., Class Action Litig., CV-05-4296 (JS), (E.D.N.Y.)(securities fraud action)

In re Van der Moolen Holding, N.V., Sec. Litig., CV-03-8284(RWS)(S.D.N.Y.)(securities fraud action)

Forsythe, et al. v. ESC Fund Management Co. (U.S.), Inc., et al., C.A. No. 1091-N (Laster, VC)(derivative action on behalf of employee co-invest fund against Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce)

Education

Cornell Law School, Juris Doctor, 1982

SUNY at Buffalo, Bachelor of Arts, Summa Cum Laude, 1979

Who We Are

admin — Thu, 05 May 2011 00:45:56 +0000

THEGRANTLAWFIRM, represents shareholders and consumers who have been wronged. Commenced by Lynda J. Grant, a leading plaintiffs’ class action practitioner for almost 30 years, THEGRANTLAWFIRM brings justice to the individual shareholder, limited partners, consumer or small pension fund, whose loss is too small to justify a single action.

THEGRANTLAWFIRM works on a contingent fee basis, which means that it does not get paid unless its clients get paid. It works cooperatively with other law firms, so that THEGRANTLAWFIRM can take on even the largest corporate player, having prosecuted actions against Intel Corporation, the Goldman Sachs Group, Cameron International Corp., and JPMorgan Chase & Co., to name a few. Yet, as a small firm, THEGRANTLAWFIRM continues to provide clients with personal attention.

THEGRANTLAWFIRM has become the “go to” firm for attorneys who do not practice in the class and derivative action field, It handles cases including securities fraud, shareholder derivative suites, corporate governance issues, books and records litigation, opt-outs, mergers and acquisitions, and shareholder derivative cases.

What We Do

admin — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:29:04 +0000

Securities Fraud

Our capital markets depend upon the dissemination of accurate and timely information. That, however, does not always happen. When corporate officers and directors disseminate false information, or omit material information, they may be subject to a securities fraud suit brought by those wronged shareholders who purchased shares at a price inflated by such false information or material omissions, and suffered damage when the truth was disclosed. In those instances, shareholders have the right to bring a securities fraud class action, on behalf of all those shareholders who suffered damage as a consequence of this fraud.

THEGRANTLAWFIRM has expertise in investigating instances of potential fraud to determine whether a cause of action does in fact exist and the extent to which shareholders have suffered damage. It also has expertise in the proper pleading of securities fraud, which must overcome progressively more stringent standards.

If you or a client has suffered a significant loss in the price of a stock and believe that this could be due to securities fraud, please contact lgrant@grantfirm.com or complete our potential matter form on this website.

Opt Out Litigation

Securities fraud class actions often culminate in a settlement in which aggrieved shareholders have an opportunity to “opt out” of the settlement and continue their own actions. Opt outs are particularly important for larger shareholders, who may feel that a particular settlement does not provide the class with sufficient consideration, or that the settlement has been entered into without sufficient litigation or negotiation.

THEGRANTLAWFIRM can represent shareholders or other stakeholders who wish to opt out of a class action settlement and has the skill to determine whether opting out a settlement or class is in the stakeholder’s best interest.

If you or a client is presently a class member, and considering whether to opt out of a settlement or class, please contact lgrant@grantfirm.com or complete or potential matter form on this website.

Derivative Actions

Corporate officers and directors are required to fulfill certain fiduciary obligations to both the shareholders of a company and the company itself when taking corporate action. When these officers and directors do not act in the best interests of the shareholders or the corporations, or when they take corporate action which damages the corporation, a shareholder may be entitled to commence an action derivatively on behalf of the corporation to recover the damage which it has suffered. This can often occur in related party transactions, in which corporate officers and directors who are tasked with approving a corporate transaction stand on both sides of the transaction.

THEGRANTLAWFIRM has extensive experience in recognizing when a derivative action exists and in litigation such actions. This experience includes determining when a pre-suit demand for action must be made upon a wronged corporation’s board of directors, a requirement under many statutes, and successfully arguing that a pre-suit demand upon that particular board would have been futile, thus enabling the suit to proceed. The derivative action is one of the major tools which shareholders can use to ensure that the companies in which they are invested adhere to appropriate corporate governance standards.

If you or a client is aware of a company which has suffered damage as a consequence of corporate malfeasance, please contact lgrant@grantfirm.com or complete our potential matter form on this website.

Books and Records Actions

When a shareholder or limited partner suspects that its company or partnership has been mismanaged or that a breach of fiduciary duties has occurred, he is often entitled to inspect the company’s or partnership’s books and records in order to support his suspicions. The right to inspect books and records is a statutory right in certain states, such as Delaware, or a contractual right. Books and records actions, which are often brought in the Delaware Chancery Court, are frequently brought as a first step in a derivative action, and can result in a trial.

THEGRANTLAWFIRM has extensive experience in bringing books and records actions, including drafting the proper books and records demand letter necessary to start the process, and successfully trying books and records actions.

If you or a client believes is aware of mismanagement and would like to discuss the value of bringing a books and records action, please contact lgrant@grantfirm.com or complete our potential matter form on this website.

Merger & Acquisition Litigation

Mergers and acquisitions which are proposed by a company’s management are not always fair and adequate. Before selling a company, directors and officers are required to fulfill certain duties, including obtaining the highest price for shareholders, and either shopping the company or performing a market check once a transaction has been proposed. Directors and officers faced with an offer for the company, including a hostile offer, are not supposed to take steps which would entrench them in their positions when doing so is not in the best interests of the company or its shareholders.

In the context of a corporate transaction, where directors and officers take steps which will not result in the highest price for shareholders (or limited partners) or where they take steps to entrench themselves, a class action or in some cases, a derivative action, may exist.

THEGRANTLAWFIRM is proficient in recognizing actionable merger and acquisitions situations, and litigating them. It is fully familiar with the often changing case law governing such instances, and is experienced in prosecuting injunction and similar type actions often used to stall or stop an unfair and inadequate transaction, until shareholders obtain sufficient redress, either by obtaining a higher price, fuller disclosures, or other types of therapeutic relief.

If you or a client is currently subject to an inadequate or unfair corporate transaction or take over, please contact lgrant@grantfirm.com or complete our potential matter form on this website.

Limited Partnership Litigation

Unlike shareholders, the rights of limited partners are often limited by the terms of their limited partnership agreement. Although general partners have fiduciary duties similar to those of corporate directors and officers, these duties can often be limited through the terms of the limited partnership agreement. It is critical for limited partners who believe they have been wronged, or that their limited partnership has been mismanaged, to be aware of the terms and potential limits of their partnership agreements.

THEGRANTLAWFIRM is highly skilled in litigating limited partnership cases, including cases arising out of unfair and inadequate tender offers by general partners for limited partnership units, mismanagement cases, and limited partnership liquidation cases.

If you or a client is a limited partner of a limited partnership in which you suspect mismanagement or which is the subject to an inadequate or unfair corporate transaction or take over, please contact lgrant@grantfirm.com or complete our potential matter form on this website.

Consumer Class Actions

Companies often engage in business practices which harm consumers, giving rise to potential class actions. Such business practices can include the imposition of unfair, inaccurate or hidden fees, the sale of unsafe or defective products, actions which breach contracts or violate the law, or false advertising.

Because aggrieved consumers generally do not suffer sufficient damages to commence their own actions, a class action is the most effective way to cause the company to reform or stop the offending practice and to obtain redress for the hundreds of consumers who have been affected.

THEGRANTLAWFIRM is experienced in vetting such cases, and determining whether a class action should be brought. It also has significant experience in litigating such actions, including experience with complex multi-district litigation which often results in such cases.

If you or a client believes that you have been the subject of an unfair business practice, please contact lgrant@grantfirm.com or complete our potential matter form on this website.