AOL Time Warner Alaska Attorney General Securities Fraud Class Action
Result: Clients recovered 50 times what they would have received in a class case
Year: 2006
Alaska State Department of Revenue, et al. v. America Online, Inc., et al. Securities Fraud Litigation
In December 2006, a $50 million settlement was reached in a securities fraud action brought by the Alaska State Department of Revenue, Alaska State Pension Investment Board and Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation against defendants America Online, Inc. (“AOL”), Time Warner Inc. (formerly known as AOL Time Warner (“AOLTW”)), and Historic TW Inc. When the action was filed, the Alaska Attorney General estimated total losses at $70 million.
The recovery on behalf of Alaska was approximately 50 times what the state would have received as a member of the class in the federal securities class action settlement. The lawsuit, filed in 2004 in Alaska State Court, alleged that defendants misrepresented advertising revenues and growth of AOL and AOLTW along with the number of AOL subscribers, which artificially inflated the stock price of AOL and AOLTW to the detriment of Alaska State funds.
The Alaska Department of Law retained Lieff Cabraser to lead the litigation efforts under its direction. “We appreciate the diligence and expertise of our counsel in achieving an outstanding resolution of the case,” said Mark Morones, spokesperson for the Department of Law, following the announcement of the settlement.
