WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The law firm of Finkelstein, Thompson & Loughran announces that they have filed a putative class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against The Mills Corporation, ("Mills" or the "Company"), The Mills Limited Partnership, and certain of its officers, on behalf of persons who purchased Mills common stock between August 14, 2003 through and including January 6, 2006 ("Class Period"). Finkelstein, Thompson & Loughran welcomes inquiries from potential class members about their rights and interests in this matter.
The lawsuit alleges that Mills violated federal securities laws by issuing false or misleading public statements. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Mills and various of its officers, throughout the class period, overstated the Company's net income and funds from operations in violation of Generally Accepted the Exchange Accounting Principles ("GAAP"), and misrepresented the adequacy and quality of its internal controls over financial reporting.
On October 31, 2005, Mills announced that its third quarter results would be delayed because the company needed additional time to review its accounting, and further announced the Company expected results to be lower than initially anticipated. On January 6, 2006, Mills announced that that: (1) it needed to restate its financial results for fiscal year 2000 through the third quarter of 2005; (2) that it had internal control weaknesses and deficiencies in regards to its accounting practices; (3) that it would write off ten predevelopment business projects, constituting a $71 million charge; (4) that 17 executives and/or officers were either terminated or retired; (5) that a $4.1 million dollar loan would not be repaid and that Mills had facts available in 2000 sufficient to make this determination, but that the $4.1 million loan had been improperly reported in all of Mills' financials from 2000 through the third quarter of 2005; (6) that Mills was in default of certain provisions of its line of credit and other project-related loans; (7) that Mills had entered into a new $150 million credit line to provide short term liquidity; and (8) disclosed that investors should no longer rely on its financial statements for the period from fiscal year 2000 through the third quarter of 2005. Thereafter, on January 12, 2006, Mills announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") had launched an informal investigation into its earlier announcement that a restatement of its financials for nearly five years would be required.
In response to the October 31, 2005 announcement, the price of Mills common stock dropped from a closing price of $53.50 on October 31, 2005 to close at $45.68 per share on November 1, 2005 -- a dramatic drop of nearly 15%. As a result of the subsequent January 6, 2006 announcement, the price of Mills common stock further dropped from a close of $42.23 on January 6, 2006 to a close of $41.05 on January 10, 2006, constituting an additional decline of 3%.
If you are a member of the class, you may, no later than March 20, 2006, request that the Court appoint you as a lead plaintiff. A lead plaintiff is a class member appointed by the Court to direct the litigation on behalf of the class. Although a class member need not be appointed as a lead plaintiff to receive a proportionate share of any proceeds of the litigation, lead plaintiffs make important decisions that could affect the prosecution of the class claims, including decisions concerning settlement. The federal law creates a rebuttable presumption that the plaintiff with the largest financial interest in the litigation is the most adequate to serve as a lead plaintiff.
With offices in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, Finkelstein, Thompson & Loughran has spent almost three decades delivering outstanding representation to institutional and individual clients in connection with securities and other finance-related litigation, and has been appointed as lead or co-lead counsel in dozens of shareholder class actions. In the past ten years, the firm has served in leadership roles in cases that have recovered over $1 billion for investors and consumers.
If you have any questions concerning this notice or your rights and interests, please contact Finkelstein, Thompson and Loughran's Washington, D.C. office, at (866)592-1960, or by email at
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