Richard v. Northwest Pipe Company et al

Filing 24

ORDER on STIPULATION re 23 Regarding Scheduling of Filing of Consolidated Complaint and Corresponding Motions to Dismiss, signed by Judge Ronald B. Leighton. (DN)

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THE HONORABLE RONALD B. LEIGHTON

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA

) 12 JERRY RICHARD, Individually and on Behalf ) of All Others Similarly Situated, ) 13 ) Plaintiff, ) 14 ) vs. ) 15 ) NORTHWEST PIPE COMPANY, et al., ) 16 ) Defendants. ) 17 ) 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

No. 3:09-cv-05724-RBL (Consolidated) CLASS ACTION STIPULATION AND ORDER REGARDING SCHEDULING OF FILING OF CONSOLIDATED COMPLAINT AND CORRESPONDING MOTIONS TO DISMISS

507878_1

STIP & [PROP] ORDER RE SCHEDULING OF FILING OF CONSOL CPLT & CORRESPONDING MTNS TO DISMISS (3:09-cv-05724-RBL)

COUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN & ROBBINS LLP 100 Pine Street, Suite 2600, San Francisco, California 94111 Telephone: [phone] · Fax: [phone]

1

WHEREAS, the above-entitled action has been consolidated and is currently pending before

2 this Court; 3 WHEREAS, on January 26, 2010, the Court entered a Stipulation and Order Regarding

4 Scheduling which provided, inter alia, that following the appointment of lead plaintiff and lead 5 plaintiff's counsel, the parties would meet and confer and submit a mutually agreeable schedule for 6 the filing of plaintiff's consolidated complaint and any corresponding briefing related to defendants' 7 motion to dismiss; 8 WHEREAS, on February 25, 2010, the Court entered an Order appointing Plumbers and

9 Pipefitters Local Union No. 630 Pension-Annuity Trust Fund as lead plaintiff and approving lead 10 plaintiff's selection of counsel; 11 12 WHEREAS, the parties met and conferred and agree on a proposed schedule; WHEREAS, on November 11, 2009, defendant Northwest Pipe Company ("Northwest")

13 announced that it was delaying the filing of its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q ("10-Q") for the 14 quarter ended September 30, 2009 ("3Q09") with the United States Securities and Exchange 15 Commission ("SEC") "pending the conclusion of an ongoing internal investigation by Northwest's 16 Audit Committee of certain accounting matters, including certain revenue recognition practices, 17 being conducted by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors with the assistance of 18 independent professionals" (November 11, 2009 Press Release); 19 WHEREAS, Northwest has yet to file its 3Q09 Form 10-Q or its final financial results with

20 the SEC and has not announced the completion of the internal investigation; 21 WHEREAS, Northwest's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December

22 31, 2009 ("Form 10-K") is due to be filed with the SEC on March 16, 2010, and there is 23 considerable doubt whether Northwest will be able to timely file its Form 10-K due to the ongoing 24 internal investigation; 25 26

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STIP & [PROP] ORDER RE SCHEDULING OF FILING OF CONSOL CPLT & CORRESPONDING MTNS TO DISMISS (3:09-cv-05724-RBL) -1-

COUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN & ROBBINS LLP 100 Pine Street, Suite 2600, San Francisco, California 94111 Telephone: [phone] · Fax: [phone]

1

WHEREAS, plaintiffs' claims in this case expressly cite the Company's internal

2 investigation and include allegations of accounting violations related to the issues currently being 3 investigated by Northwest; 4 WHEREAS, filing the consolidated complaint and corresponding motion to dismiss briefing

5 before the completion of the internal investigation would result in significant redundancies and 6 inefficient use of resources of the parties and the Court; and 7 WHEREAS, the parties agree that the interests of judicial economy and the efficient

8 management of this litigation are best served by awaiting the completion of Northwest's internal 9 investigation and the issuance of its final financial results for 3Q09 and FY09 before filing a 10 consolidated complaint and corresponding briefing; 11 12 NOW, THEREFORE, the parties hereby stipulate to a scheduling order as follows: 1. The consolidated complaint in this action shall be filed within 45 days of Northwest's

13 having completed the filing of both its 3Q09 10-Q and FY09 10-K with the SEC. 14 2. Until such time as a consolidated complaint is filed in this action, defendants are not

15 required to answer or otherwise respond to the complaint in this action. 16 3. Upon the filing of a consolidated complaint, defendants shall have 45 days to answer

17 or otherwise respond to the consolidated complaint. In the event that defendants move to dismiss the 18 consolidated complaint, any opposition to such motion shall be filed within 45 days of filing. Any 19 reply shall be filed within 21 days of the filing of plaintiffs' opposition. 20 4. The parties' discovery obligations remain stayed pursuant to the terms of the Private

21 Securities Litigation Reform Act. 22 STIPULATED AND AGREED: COUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN & ROBBINS LLP ELI R. GREENSTEIN CHRISTOPHER M. WOOD

23 DATED: March 11, 2010 24 25 26

s/ Eli R. Greenstein ELI R. GREENSTEIN
STIP & [PROP] ORDER RE SCHEDULING OF FILING OF CONSOL CPLT & CORRESPONDING MTNS TO DISMISS (3:09-cv-05724-RBL) -2COUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN & ROBBINS LLP 100 Pine Street, Suite 2600, San Francisco, California 94111 Telephone: [phone] · Fax: [phone]

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DATED: March 11, 2010 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

100 Pine Street, Suite 2600 San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: [phone] (fax) E-mail: [e-mail] E-mail: [e-mail] Lead Counsel for Plaintiff HAGENS BERMAN SOBOL SHAPIRO LLP Karl P. Barth, WSBA No. 22780 1918 Eighth Avenue, Suite 3300 Seattle, WA 98101 Telephone: [phone] (fax) E-mail: [e-mail] Liaison Counsel SUGARMAN & SUSSKIND HOWARD S. SUSSKIND 100 Miracle Mile, Suite 300 Coral Gables, FL 33134 Telephone: [phone] (fax) Additional Counsel for Plaintiff HOGAN & HARTSON LLP ROBIN WECHKIN

s/ Robin Wechkin ROBIN WECHKIN 8426 316th Place SE Issaquah, WA 98027 Telephone: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail] HOGAN & HARTSON LLP GEORGE H. MERNICK, III 555 13th Street, NW Washington, DC 20004 Telephone: [phone] (fax) E-mail: [e-mail] Attorneys for Defendants
STIP & [PROP] ORDER RE SCHEDULING OF FILING OF CONSOL CPLT & CORRESPONDING MTNS TO DISMISS (3:09-cv-05724-RBL) -3COUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN & ROBBINS LLP 100 Pine Street, Suite 2600, San Francisco, California 94111 Telephone: [phone] · Fax: [phone]

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1 2 3 IT IS SO ORDERED.

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* ORDER

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4 DATED: _March 12, 2010________________________ __________________________________________ 5 RONALD B. LEIGHTON 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

A

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507878_1

STIP & [PROP] ORDER RE SCHEDULING OF FILING OF CONSOL CPLT & CORRESPONDING MTNS TO DISMISS (3:09-cv-05724-RBL) -4-

COUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN & ROBBINS LLP 100 Pine Street, Suite 2600, San Francisco, California 94111 Telephone: [phone] · Fax: [phone]