Paris Court of Appeals Decision Favors French Shareholders in U.S. Securities Fraud Class Action against Vivendi

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Apr 28, 2010, 08:59 ET

NEW YORK, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement from Abbey Spanier Rodd & Abrams LLP, Milberg LLP, and Browne Woods George LLP.

"We are pleased that every court in the United States and in France to consider the issue has held that French shareholders may participate in the U.S. class action in which Vivendi was found liable for damages," said lawyers for the class plaintiffs. "The Court's decision Wednesday that French investors are rightfully part of the U.S. class action because of the important connection between Vivendi's fraud and the United States is a victory for all French investors," Maxime Delespaul, a lawyer for French plaintiffs said. The lawyers for the class have asked Judge Richard Holwell to commence a claim process to distribute damages, estimated by plaintiffs to be as much as $9.3 billion, or euro 6.6 billion, as soon as possible.

The French shareholders, Gerard Morel and Olivier Gerard, are pleased and relieved after being vindicated by the Court of Appeals of Paris, which rejected Vivendi's effort in French courts to sanction Morel and Gerard for suing Vivendi, a French corporation, in the securities fraud class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Vivendi was seeking a decision from the French court that would prevent all French class members from benefiting from the January 29, 2010 jury verdict in the New York class action. The New York jury held Vivendi liable to a multi-national class of purchasers of Vivendi stock for damages resulting from Vivendi's false and misleading statements about its liquidity during the twenty-one month class period from October 30, 2000 to August 14, 2002.

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SOURCE Abbey Spanier Rodd & Abrams, LLP