Beckman Coulter, Inc. Investor Filed Lawsuit Over Alleged Securities Laws Violations

DECEMBER 2011 - According to the Notice:

Description of the Action and the Class

This Notice relates to the proposed Settlement of a securities class action lawsuit. As explained in more detail below, the proposed Settlement, if approved by the Court, will settle the claim of any person or entity who purchased or otherwise acquired Beckman common stock between July 31, 2009 and July 22, 2010, inclusive, and who was allegedly damaged thereby (the “Class”).

Statement of the Plaintiffs’ Recovery

Subject to Court approval, and as described more fully on Page 7 below, Lead Plaintiff, on behalf of the proposed Class, has agreed to settle all claims related to the purchase or acquisition of Beckman common stock during the Class Period that were or could have been asserted against the Defendants in the Action, in exchange for a payment of $5,000,000 in cash (the “Settlement Amount”) to be deposited into an interest-bearing escrow account (the “Settlement Fund”), plus payment of the costs of Settlement Notice and Administration Expenses in an amount not to exceed a total cumulative cap of $500,000. Based on Lead Plaintiff’s consulting damages expert’s estimate of the amount of Beckman common stock that may have been damaged as a result of the alleged misstatements and omissions by the Defendants, and assuming that all those shares participate in the Settlement, Lead Counsel estimates that the average recovery would be approximately $0.16 per allegedly damaged share,2 before the deduction of Court-approved attorneys’ fees and expenses, taxes, and notice and administration costs in excess of $500,000, if any. Class Members should note, however, that this is only an estimate based on the overall number of potentially damaged shares in the Class. Some Class Members may recover more or less than this estimated amount depending on, among other factors,
when, where, and the prices at which their shares were purchased or sold. The Net Settlement Fund (the Settlement Fund less taxes, notice and administration costs in excess of $500,000, and attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses awarded to Lead Counsel) will be distributed in accordance with a plan of allocation (the “Plan of Allocation”) approved by the Court that will determine how the Net Settlement Fund shall be allocated to the members of the Class. The proposed Plan of Allocation is included in this Notice (see Pages 7-9 below).

Reasons for the Settlement

For Lead Plaintiff, the principal reason for the Settlement is the immediate benefit of a substantial cash recovery for the Class. This benefit must be compared to the risk that no recovery or a smaller recovery might be achieved if the Court were to grant the Defendants’ pending motion to dismiss the Consolidated Class Action Complaint for Violations of Federal Securities Laws (the “Complaint”); or if Lead Plaintiff were to avoid dismissal of the Complaint, the further risk that no recovery or a smaller recovery might be achieved after the completion of fact and expert discovery, resolution of any summary judgment motions by the Defendants, and/or the outcome of a contested trial and the resolution of appeals, possibly years into the future. For the Defendants, who deny all allegations of liability and deny that any Class Members were damaged, the principal reason for the Settlement is to eliminate the burden, expense, uncertainty, and risk of further litigation.

SEPTEMBER 2011 - A class of Beckman shareholders asked a federal judge to approve a $5.5 million settlement to resolve claims that Beckman Coulter, Inc. didn't disclose regulatory and product quality issues in a timely manner, affecting the company's stock price.

SEPTEMBER 2010 - An investor in Beckman Coulter, Inc. (NYSE:BEC) filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against Beckman Coulter over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws.

Beckman Coulter, Inc., located in Brea, California, is a manufacturer and marketer of biomedical testing instrument systems, tests and supplies. According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of Beckman Coulter, Inc. (Public, NYSE:BEC) common stock during the period between July 31, 2009 and July 22, 2010 that Beckman Coulter, Inc. and certain of its officers and directors violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by issuing between July 31, 2009 and July 22, 2010 materially false and misleading statements regarding its business and financial results. The plaintiff alleges that the defendants engaged in improper behavior that harmed Beckman's investors by failing to disclose the quality and compliance issues related to its troponin test kits and as a result of defendants' false statements, Beckman's stock (BEC) traded at artificially inflated prices between July 31, 2009 and July 22, 2010, reaching a high of $71.20 per share on September 14, 2009. Beckman Coulters total revenue increased over the past four years from $2.5285billion in 2006 to $3.2606billion in 2009. But its Net Income decreased over the same period from $186.90million in 2006 and $203.70million in 2007 to $147.10million in 2009.

Then on July 22, 2010, Beckman Coulter, Inc. reported its second quarter 2010 results, announcing that it had missed earnings estimates for the quarter and further that it was reducing its guidance due in substantial part to troponin quality and compliance issues. As a result of this news, so the lawsuit, Beckman Coulter's stock BEC declined $12.64 per share to close at $47.26 per share on July 23, 2010, a one-day decline of 21% on volume of over 8.6 million shares. Shares of Beckman Coulter, Inc. (BEC) traded recently at $46.50 per share, down from its current 52weekHigh of $71.57 per share. BEC shares traded in July 2010 as high as $63.25 per share before taking the hit on July 23, 2010 to under $48 per share. BEC shares traded as high as $74.94 per share in August 2008 before decreasing until the end of the year as a result of the financial crisis to as low as $39.44 per share in December 2008. Since the 2008 low BEC shares were able to regain value in 2009 to as high as over $70 per share.