WILMINGTON, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rigrodsky & Long, P.A. announces that a complaint has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division on behalf of all persons or entities that purchased the common stock of Walter Energy, Inc. (“Walter” or the “Company”) (NYSE:WLT) between April 20, 2011 and September 21, 2011 (the “Class Period”), alleging violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Complaint”).
If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact Timothy J. MacFall, Esquire or Scott J. Farrell, Esquire of Rigrodsky & Long, P.A., 825 East Gate Boulevard, Suite 300, Garden City, NY at (888) 969-4242, by e-mail to info@rigrodskylong.com, or at: http://www.rigrodskylong.com/investigations/walter-energy-inc-wlt
Walter, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, mines and exports coking coal for the global steel industry through its consolidated subsidiaries. The Complaint names the Company and certain of its officers as defendants, and alleges that during the Class Period, defendants issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business and prospects. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that defendants misrepresented and/or failed to disclose that Walter was experiencing adverse conditions in Alabama and lower coal transportation rates in Canada that significantly reduced the company’s coal production; that the Company experienced a material adverse effect on its average sales prices and operating results due to its commitment to ship more than 700,000 tons of coal in the second quarter at first quarter sales prices; that the Company was experiencing a significant decline in its margins and profitability; and, therefore, defendants’ positive Class Period statements about the Company’s business and prospects during the Class Period lacked any reasonable basis.
Walter issued a press release announcing its operating results for its 2011 fiscal second quarter ended June 30, 2011, on August 3, 2011. The Company reported net income of $107.4 million, or $1.71 per diluted common share for the quarter, far less than analysts’ estimates. On September 21, 2011, the Company announced that it was attempting to “enhance” its historical statistical disclosure, and revised its 2011 second half sales projections. As a result of that announcement, the price of Walter common stock fell from a close of $75.00 per share on September 20, 2011 to close at $66.25 on September 21, 2011, on extremely heavy trading volume.
If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than March 26, 2012. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member’s claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. Any member of the proposed class may move the court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.
While Rigrodsky & Long, P.A. did not file the Complaint in this matter, the firm, with offices in Wilmington, Delaware and Garden City, New York, regularly litigates securities class, derivative and direct actions, shareholder rights litigation and corporate governance litigation, including claims for breach of fiduciary duty and proxy violations in the Delaware Court of Chancery and in state and federal courts throughout the United States.
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