Questioned what is acceptable public disclosure. SEC Staff - noted that the final release will likely give choices and examples. The important issue is whether the public understands where the information will be. New Issue - T. Klee Plaintiffs lawyers have adopted a new technique of talking to analysts about lawsuits, in some cases that they plan to bring and in some cases that they have brought, but the former is more of the concern. Usually class action lawsuits are about to be brought and attorneys talk about them with the analysts suggesting that these lawsuits will drag on for years putting pressure on the stock price for a long time.
Examples are litigation against drug companies and HMOs.
Seems to be an issue of fair disclosure. Suggest that the SEC Staff consider these meetings as an abuse or manipulation of the market as a negotiation technique to settle lawsuits, even before they are filed. Has the SEC heard of these types of abuses and should anything be done about it. SEC Staff noted that the above activities as Tom Klee described would be of significant concern to the SEC and are very fact intensive. Mr. Klee offered to provide the Staff with recent articles describing these types of actions.