Opinion ID: 2982900
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sarvary’s “competitiveness” statement

Text: The January 24 press release also attributed the following comment to Sarvary: “In 2011, we delivered strong financial performance, strengthened our competitiveness and implemented a range of strategic growth initiatives.” (R. 91-14, Jan. 24, 2012 Form 8-K.) The pension funds contend that Sarvary’s statement was false or misleading because he knew that Tempur-Pedic’s growth slowed at retailers carrying the iComfort. But Sarvary’s unspecific reference to the company’s “competitiveness” is immaterial as a matter of law: the term is “too squishy, too untethered to anything measurable, to communicate anything that a reasonable person would deem important to a securities investment decision.” City of Monroe, 399 F.3d at 671. The pension funds fail to identify a “standard against which a reasonable investor could expect [Sarvary’s reference to competitiveness] to be pegged.” Id.