The companies listed below are just a sampling of the dozens of companies that have been sued recently by their shareholders. These shareholder lawsuits are called "shareholder's derivative suits," and are used by shareholders to fight alleged corporate fraud and malfeasance. Most of the suits listed below involve options "backdating," a process which allows corporate executives to inflate their personal earnings at the expense of their shareholders.

Shareholders are not the only ones investigating these companies. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also launched probes into many tech companies. For more information, please see "Tech Options Probe Expands" [offsite link].

If you own stock in any of the listed companies, or if you own stock in any of the scores of other companies that are being investigated, please contact our firm to learn about your legal rights.

• • Hewlett-Packard
  • Apple Computer
  • Applied Micro Circuits
  • BEA Systems
  • Electronics for Imaging
  • Sigma Designs
  • Verisign
  • Electronic Arts
  • Foxhollow
  • Openwave Systems
  • Altera Corporation
  • Juniper Networks
  • McAfee

Persons seeking to preserve any potential legal claims should contact an attorney promptly, since all states have mandatory time periods in which lawsuits must be filed with the courts; otherwise, they may be forever barred.

Audet & Partners represents individuals, governmental entities, small businesses and institutional shareholders in product liability, tort, negligence, consumer, construction defect, investment fraud, securities, insider trading, antitrust, environmental, whistle blower, aviation and employment cases. In recognition of their outstanding abilities and commitment to the legal profession over the years, the firm and its members have served as Court-appointed Plaintiffs’ Counsel in dozens of federal and state cases throughout the United States.