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United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division
October 1, 1981
WILLIAM JOHNSON, BY HIS CONSERVATOR, RICHARD JOHNSON, ON HIS OWN BEHALF AND ON BEHALF OF ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY SITUATED, PLAINTIFFS,v.TERRY BRELJE, PH.D., SUPERINTENDENT OF CHESTER MENTAL HEALTH CENTER, ROBERT DEVITO, DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES, DEFENDANTS.
This case came before the court on cross motions for summary judgment.
In a Memorandum Opinion and Order issued on August 18, 1981,
521 F. Supp. 723, this court ruled on all issues raised in the cross
motions for summary judgment, except for the alleged denial of periodic
reviews prior to January 1, 1979. The parties have agreed in open court
that this issue is now moot based upon the finding by this court that the
defendants cannot be held liable for damages in this action.
In furtherance of the Order and Opinion of August 18, 1981, and in
order to fully and finally resolve the issues raised before this court in
this case, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED AS FOLLOWS:
"Chester" means the Chester Mental Health Center. "DMHDD" means the
Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.
"Future USTs" means those defendants who will be found unfit to stand
trial and referred to DMHDD for admission subsequent to November 1,
1981, and who are assigned to Chester.
"Admission" means the initial placement of a future UST in a facility
of DMHDD.
"Transfer" means the reassignment of a future UST from one DMHDD
facility to another.
Admissions and Transfers
Effective November 1, 1981, all admissions and transfers to Chester of
persons found unfit to stand trial, shall be in accordance with these
1. Admissions to Chester.
a. Ten (10) days prior to the proposed placement at
Chester, DMHDD shall serve written notice to the
future UST and his attorney, of the proposed
assignment to Chester. The notice shall include the
evidentiary basis for the assignment, a statement
that a hearing may be requested to contest the
assignment, and the name of the person to whom a
request for a hearing should be directed.
b. If a request for a hearing is received prior to the
scheduled date for admission to Chester a hearing
will be convened. The hearing will take place within
fourteen (14) days of receipt of the request.
A neutral and detached hearing officer will be
appointed. The hearing officer will be a physician,
psychiatrist, clinical psychologist or qualified
examiner; but in no case will s/he have been
involved in the evaluation process. The future UST
will remain in the jail pending the decision of the
hearing officer.
1) An opportunity to contest the proposed
2) An opportunity to appear in person and to
present witnesses and evidence on his behalf;
3) The right to confront and cross examine
witnesses unless the hearing
officer finds good cause for not allowing
d. The decision of the hearing officer shall be based
upon the evidence introduced at the hearing. The
burden shall be on DMHDD to establish that the
assignment to Chester is the least restrictive
environment appropriate for the future UST, based
upon an assessment of the risk of dangerousness and
the risk of escape presented by him. The decision of
the hearing officer shall include a written
statement as to the evidence relied upon and the
reasons for the decision.
e. Upon notification of the decision of the hearing
officer, the sheriff will be advised of the DMHDD
facility to which the future UST may be transported
for admission.
All residents unfit to stand trial shall be
transferred to and from Chester in accordance with the
standards and procedures of the Illinois Mental Health
and Developmental Disabilities Code. This provision is
entered subject to the right of the plaintiffs'
attorney, at the end of one (1) year, to petition the
court for reconsideration if abuses of this provision
can be demonstrated.
It will be the policy of the Chester Mental Health
Center that a total of at least five opportunities to
be outside per week will be scheduled for residents.
The five activities scheduled may be a combination of
the recreation area, the outdoor courtyards, the
horticulture activities, cookouts, carnival activities
and the like. Such activities will not be offered if
one or more of the following conditions prevail:
a. The outside temperature is below 40°. However,
if the resident has not been permitted outdoors for
seven (7) days or more solely because the
temperature was below 40°, Chester shall permit
the resident to go outdoors at least one (1) day per
week should the temperature be 32° or warmer.
This proviso is entered subject to the right of the
defendants, at the end of one year, to petition the
court for modification for good cause shown.
b. The outside temperature exceeds 90°. This is
medically necessary in view of the interaction
effects between the heat, sunlight, humidity and the
c. An individual resident may be denied the
opportunity if his behavior or clinical condition
make his participation unsafe.
d. Inclement weather such as rain, etc., render the
area unusable.
e. Condition of the physical plant or other activities
occurring in the area which would render it unsafe
or make it impossible to maintain security.
f. Unplanned and unexpected personnel shortages as a
result of illness or other circumstance which would
make it impossible to assure safety or security.
Should the conditions described in paragraphs #e
and #f above, continue for a period of twenty one
(21) days, the defendants shall so notify
plaintiffs' attorneys on the twenty second day;
provided however, that this notice requirement shall
continue only for a period of one (1) year from the
date of this Supplemental Order.
Chester agrees that there shall be no ten (10) minute
limit on calls defendants place to attorneys.
Accordingly, residents shall be allowed reasonable
time necessary for such calls, subject only to the
limitation that telephone equipment is shared by other
residents and no one resident will be permitted to
effectively prevent other defendants from use of the
It shall be the policy of Chester to allow attorneys
to call residents during the normal business day. Each
resident shall be afforded the opportunity to provide
Chester with the name of his attorney(s). However, if
the caller is unknown to the Center, in order to
preserve confidentiality and also prevent a security
breach, the
following procedure will be utilized to facilitate the
resident's talking with his attorney. The attorney's
name and number will be taken and if the resident is
on the unit, he will be notified immediately of the
attorney's desire for him to call and telephone
equipment made available for him to do so. If the
resident is off the unit a message will be left for
him. Within ninety (90) days from the date of this
Supplemental Order, defendants shall have installed
telephone equipment, or modify the present equipment,
to permit the residents to have privacy in conducting
telephone conversations with their attorneys.
Defendants shall inform plaintiffs' attorneys of any
change in policies, practices, procedures or written
instructions which would alter the implementation of
this Supplemental Order at least ten (10) days prior
to the implementation of such change; provided
however, that this notice requirement shall continue
only for a period of one (1) year from the date of
this Supplemental Order.
The Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities has
determined that it would be appropriate to assign _______________________
to Chester Mental Health Center. Unless a hearing is requested, said
assignment shall take place on.
Pursuant to the court's decision in Johnson v. Brelje, 78C1704
(N.D.Ill. 1981) a defendant unfit to stand trial who is assigned to
Chester may request a hearing to contest that assignment.
The evidentiary basis for the proposed assignment is as follows:
The request for a hearing can be made either by the individual or his
attorney. Said request should be in writing and mailed to the following
person(s) and must be received before the date assigned for placement:
1. The right to contest the proposed assignment;
2. The right to present witnesses and evidence on
his behalf;
3. The right to confront and cross-examine witnesses,
unless the hearing officer finds good cause for not
allowing confrontation.
I, ________________, hereby request a hearing to contest the assignment
of ______________ to Chester Mental Health Center.
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Boyertown's Wood captures elusive state title
- Updated: March 9, 2015
HERSHEY, Pa. – In his first two trips, Jordan Wood cried at the Giant Center.
He tagged along with his teammates for dinner at Applebee's to celebrate their final weigh-in, but he came home starving for the state championship he had been dreaming about since he was five years old.
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subset: commoncrawl


text: Been on other forums about this; My 2005 Bug Jive had the front disc break off from the hub at 4000kms. Rolled back over a traffic sensor, "clunk".. front disc freewheeling..no brakes. Scootopia Bris. replaced complete front wheel under warranty. Broken one appeared to be one piece hub/disc with no signs of weld. Replacement has obvious welding right around it. Quiet design fault correction perhaps??? Glad I wasn't under brakes for anything serious. Any thoughts?


text:
Enova International Inc. (ENVA) Receives "Buy" Rating from JMP Securities
Enova International Inc. (NYSE:ENVA)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by JMP Securities in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday.
Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Zacks Investment Research lowered Enova International from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 3rd. Jefferies Group assumed coverage on Enova International in a report on Thursday, September 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $12.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, FBR & Co raised their price objective on Enova International from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $9.63.
Enova International (NYSE:ENVA) traded down 1.60% on Monday, hitting $9.25. 109,178 shares of the stock were exchanged. The firm has a market cap of $307.23 million, a PE ratio of 11.55 and a beta of 3.42. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $9.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.01. Enova International has a 52-week low of $4.64 and a 52-week high of $13.66.
Enova International (NYSE:ENVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $172.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $165.80 million. Enova International had a net margin of 3.87% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Enova International will post $0.93 earnings per share for the current year.
In related news, major shareholder Cash America International Inc sold 16,872 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.08, for a total value of $153,197.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Firstcash, Inc sold 26,124 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.47, for a total transaction of $247,394.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.
Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Enova International by 1.5% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,964 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Acrospire Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Enova International by 1,123.6% in the second quarter. Acrospire Investment Management LLC now owns 18,268 shares of the company's stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 16,775 shares during the period. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY bought a new stake in shares of Enova International during the second quarter valued at about $142,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Enova International by 8.2% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 36,430 shares of the company's stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 2,774 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Enova International by 29.4% in the second quarter. Teachers Advisors Inc. now owns 49,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 11,147 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.74% of the company's stock.
Enova International Company Profile
Enova International, Inc (Enova) is a provider of online financial services to non-prime consumers and small businesses, providing access to credit powered by its advanced analytics, technology, and online platform and services. Enova has provided over four million customers around the globe access to more than $17 billion in loans and financing.
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text:
average rating: -- / 10
Developers probolan a progressive tense existing conditions that acquire a certain competing acridity that Their doting projects of every size.
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text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Aug 1, 1995
|Filing date
|Jul 13, 1993
|Priority date
|Jul 17, 1992
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Godber Petersen
|Original Assignee
|Man Roland Druckmaschinen Ag
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (17), Non-Patent Citations (2), Referenced by (10), Classifications (8), Legal Events (4)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
Reference is made to the following related patents, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,759 issued May 14, 1985
U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,365 issued Jun. 20, 1989
U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,116 issued May 5, 1992
U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,781 issued Jul. 14, 1992
The present invention relates to a folding apparatus for rotary printing presses to which individual folded sheets or packages of folded sheets also referred to as folded products can be delivered serially. When reference is made hereinafter and in the claims to "sheet", it is to be understood that the singular form is used merely for convenience and is to include packages of sheets, for example, numerous folded sheets, for instance newspapers.
Folding apparatuses for web-fed rotary printing presses are well-known. One such folding apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,759. In it, folded sheets are delivered via a first, higher speed belt system to a retarding path, the belt system being close to the printing press and having upper and lower belts. The folded sheets are delivered to a second, lower-speed belt system farther from the printing press and again having upper and lower belts, or to a pair of folding rollers. The folded sheets are processed in succession, or in other words serially. This makes it necessary to deliver them in a precisely defined manner to the folding apparatus, and to assure, for instance with the aid of the retarding path described therein, a certain speed of the folded samples as they pass through the folding apparatus. A folding apparatus of this kind, at relatively high processing speeds, rapidly reaches its limit capacity depending on the type of fold and the type of paper. Since the associated web-fed rotary printing press as a rule has a higher capacity than the folding apparatus following it, this means that the web-fed printing press cannot be run at top speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,365 issued Jun. 20, 1989 discloses an apparatus for receiving and conveying folded products in which the folded products are stored next to one another. An approximately zig-zag carrier structure, made of plates which, by way of example, are elastic and which are welded at the contact points with one another, can be transported along guide rails. The carrier structure can be taken from an empty storage means in its compressed form and then pulled or pushed into an unloading, loading or mixing zone, where the spread-apart carrier structure is ready to receive folded products. After that, the folded products can be compactly stored in a storage means on or in the carrier structures.
It is an object of the present invention to create a folding apparatus that is suitable for fast processing of folding products as well.
Briefly, in such a folding apparatus, a number of folding units are provided. The folded sheets are deliverable to the folding units in parallel, in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of serial delivery, and can be simultaneously folded in parallel therein. The maximum number of parallel-deliverable folding sheets is equivalent to the number of folding units. The apparatus according to the invention serves to fold sheets which may have been folded in a previous folding process, or may be unfolded sheets.
A roller-fed rotary printing press preceding the folding apparatus of the invention can accordingly be operated at maximum speed. At the same time, the folding apparatus assures high quality with a high throughput of folded samples.
The invention is described below in further detail in terms of an exemplary embodiment, taken in conjunction with the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a side view of a transport apparatus with a gripper chain;
FIG. 2 is a side view of a transport apparatus with a cassette;
FIG. 3 is a front view of a folding unit;
FIG. 4 is a side view of a multiple folding system;
FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along a line I--I of FIG. 3 and a line II--II of FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is a detail of FIG. 4 on a larger scale;
FIG. 7 is a detail of FIG. 5 on a larger scale;
FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along a line III-III of FIG. 3;
FIG. 9 is a view in the direction of an arrow IV of FIG. 3;
FIG. 10 is a schematic view of folding units connected next to one another; and
FIG. 11 is a further schematic view of folding units connected next to one another.
In a transport apparatus 1 (FIG. 1), folded sheets 9, which initially are stacked one above the other on a stack 2, are taken individually from the stack 2 by a gripper chain 3 in a manner known per se (U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,116). Instead of the individual folded sheets 9, stacks of folded sheets may also be taken. The gripper chain 3 has gripper units 300 with stops 301. Depending on the spacing of the gripper units 300, the folded sheets 9, which are suspended from the gripper chain 3, are equi-distant from one another, and are transported in the direction of an arrow 4 to folding units 8 (FIG. 3). Above the folding units, the gripper chain 3 is stopped for a brief period of time. A trip rail 5 with projections 501 that engage the stops 301 from behind is disposed above the gripper chain 3 and is moved either sequentially or simultaneously in the direction of arrows 6 and 7 to the gripper chain 3, so that the stops 301 are opened by the projections 501. As a result, the folded sheets 9 are delivered simultaneously to the various folding units 8.
Instead of the transport apparatus 1 of FIG. 1, a transport apparatus 14 with storage cassettes 140 (FIG. 2) may also be provided. Then, already once-folded sheets 9 are located in zig-zag carrier structures 10, 11 in a manner known per se from the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,365. With the aid of pullers 121 located on transport chains 12, 13, the folded sheets 9 are pulled out of the carrier structures 10, 11 with the storage cassettes 140 onto rails 16 in the direction of an arrow 15. The carrier structures 10, 11 have spacers 100, by which the folded sheets are kept uniformly spaced apart from one another. Next, the carrier structures 10, 11, with the folded sheets 9, are each put in a position above the folding units 8 (FIG. 3).
Turning now to FIG. 3, each of the folding units 8 has one pair of transport rollers 17, which can be moved in the direction of an arrow 18 into a position 17'. The transport rollers 17 are pressed together simultaneously, so that they grip the folded sheet 9. At the same time, the folded sheet 9 is released by moving the carrier structures 10, 11 apart in the direction of arrows 19, 20. Although FIG. 3 shows delivery of folded sheets 9 to folding units 8 with carrier structures 10, 11 as shown in FIG. 2, such delivery can likewise be accomplished with the arrangement shown in FIG. 1. In such case, sheets 9 are released as stops 301 are opened by projections 501. The following description will only refer, however to the use of the cassette arrangement depicted in FIG. 2.
The folded sheet 9 shown in FIG. 3 is then transported in the direction of the arrow 21 until it assumes a position 9'. The folded sheet 9 slides laterally along plates 23, 24, 25, 26 until it comes to rest between them in the position 9', supported by its lower edge on stops 27, 28. The folded sheet 9 is also aligned by stops 31 and 32, which are secured to the rails 29, 30. Rails 29, 30 and stops 31 and 32 are arranged for movement in opposite directions from one another, as indicated by arrows 33 and 34. The plates 23 are each secured to rails 36 via elastic tongues 35.
One folding apparatus has a number of folding units 8, which are disposed next to one another, so that when the folded sheets 9 are delivered in the direction of arrow 21 substantially at right angles to the direction of serial delivery of the folded sheets 9, as indicated by arrows 4 and 15, the folded sheets 9 will be picked up in parallel and simultaneously. The direction of the parallel pickup may, however, deviate by �10� from that indicated by the arrow 21.
The folding units 8, as already indicated above, are located next to one another (FIG. 4), so that the folded sheets 9 will be picked up simultaneously with the carrier structures 10, 11 via the transport rollers 17. Once the folded sheets 9 rest with their lower edge on the stops 27, 28, the plates 23 are moved along the rails 36 in the direction of an arrow 37 (FIG. 5), and by this means half of each folded sheet 9 in each case is pressed against the plates 24 and held in place by them.
The folding units 8 each have a folding roller 38, which is supported in a fixed position, but rotatably, in the associated plate 24. Each of the folding rollers 38 is provided with a corresponding folding roller 39 that is likewise rotatably supported in a fork-like mount 40. Because of the mount 40, however, the folding roller 39 is movable laterally as well. The mount 40 is longitudinally displaceably guided between the plates 25 and plates 41 as well as blocks 42 and 43 (FIG. 4). Each of the blocks 42, 43 is secured to a carrier 44 (FIG. 5). The folding rollers 39 can be moved via the mount 40 and a lever 45, which is also supported on the carrier 44, by means of a cylinder 46 operated pneumatically, for instance.. Once the plates 26 have been moved by a common rail 48 in the direction of the arrow 37 far enough toward the plates 25 that the folded sheets 9 are kept taut as they enter the folding blades 47, the folding rollers 39 are moved into a position 39' to make it easier to press in on the folded sheets 9 with the folding blades 47. Only one-half of folded sheets 9 (that is, the lower half as seen in FIG. 5) is moved away in the direction 34, while the other half (that is, the upper half) remains clamped between the plates 23 and 24, so that accurate folding is attained. The folding blades 47 are secured jointly to a rail 49 (see FIG. 3) and are moved in the direction of the arrow 37 (FIG. 5) into a position 47', so that the bent ends of the folding blades 47 drive into the folded sheets 9 and press them inward.
In order to adjust the folding blades 47 centrally between the folding rollers 38, 39 for any thickness of folded sheets 9, the folding blades 47 are disposed in such a way by pinions 50 and racks 51 via guides (see FIG. 3) that they can be moved in the direction of the arrow 37. Then the folding rollers 39 are moved out of the position 39' by the cylinders 46 in the direction of the arrow 34 to the position 39, where at the conclusion of the folding process they produce the folding crease.
Once the folding process is concluded, that is, once the folding crease has been made, the air pressure in the cylinders 46 is controlled so that the folded sheets 9 are transported onward by the rotation of the folding rollers 38, 39. At the same time, the folding blades 47 are retracted from the positions 47' back to their initial position. The stops 28 (FIG. 3) are moved over a common rail 58 into a position 28' (FIG. 5), in order to support the already folded sheets 9. At the same time, the folding rollers 39 are driven via spur gears 53, 54 and chain wheels 55 (FIGS. 3, 5, 8) in the direction of an arrow 56 (FIGS. 5, 7), while the folding rollers 38 are set into motion by friction with the folded sheets 9. The chain wheels 55 are driven via a common chain 57 (FIGS. 5, 7). As a result, the creased folded sheets 9 reach a position 9" between the plates 41 and plates 59, as can be seen particularly in FIGS. 6 and 7. In this position, the folded sheets 9, once the stops 28 (FIG. 9) have been retracted from the position 28' to the outset position 28, are engaged by pairs of toothed belts 60 in a position 60'. The pairs of toothed belts 60 are each moved via drive rollers 601, 602, which via a rack (not shown here) are moved from the position 60 to the position 60' in a manner analogous to the transport rollers 17. From that position, the folded sheets 9 are transported onward via guide tongues 61 (FIG. 3) and delivered for instance to an apparatus for stacking printed products, of the kind known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,781.
Folding units which are designed like the folding units 8 described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-9 can be connected one after the other in order to re-fold the folded sheets 9 multiple times. In a first folding unit, with the aid of folding rollers 63, 64 and a folding blade 65 (FIG. 11), a folded sheet 62 (FIG. 10) receives its first crosswise fold along a fold line 66 (FIG. 10). Next it receives a second crosswise fold along a fold line 67 with the aid of a second folding station that has folding rollers 68, 69 and a folding blade 70 (FIGS. 10, 11). In a third folding station, a lengthwise fold is made along a fold line 71 (FIG. 10) by means of folding rollers 72, 73 (FIGS. 10, 11) and a folding blade 74 (FIG. 11). Such folding stations can be set up one after another in an arbitrary order.
In this way, a number of folding stations 8 operate in parallel according to the invention; they are simple in design and simultaneously process a high number of folded sheets 9. Compared with a folding apparatus that operates purely serially, there is more time available for each folding process in the parallel-operation folding apparatus, so that this process can be controlled accurately. By connecting folding stations one after the other, in the way shown in FIGS. 10, 11, arbitrary special folds can be created.
Various modifications which are readily apparent to one with ordinary skill in the art may be made to the preferred embodiments described in detail above, and features described in connection with any one of the embodiments may be used with any of the others. For example, rails 36, 47, 48 and 58, as well as folding blades 47, can be driven from a common drive or respectively singly by electric motors, such as positioning motors. All such modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.
|Cited Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Aug 18, 1913
|Jan 27, 1914
|Henry A Maley
|Method of handling sheets.
|Mar 13, 1962
|Jan 14, 1964
|Rudolph Funk
|Apparatus for cross folding flexible sheets
|Oct 7, 1970
|Jul 31, 1973
|Mccain Mfg Co
|Folding machines
|Jun 12, 1981
|Jun 14, 1983
|Maschinenbau Oppenweiler Binder Gmbh & Co.
|Device for pivoting the knife in its longitudinal axis and for adjusting the knife depth on knife folding machines
|Jun 1, 1984
|May 14, 1985
|M.A.N.-Roland Druckmaschinen Aktiengesellschaft
|Rotary printing machine output speed matching system for sheet folder
|Jul 19, 1985
|Aug 12, 1986
|M.A.N. Roland Druckmaschinen Aktiengesellschaft
|Device on a folding gripper cylinder to accept folded products
|May 29, 1987
|Oct 4, 1988
|M.A.N. Roland Druckmaschinen Ag
|Sheet folding and transport system, particularly for printed paper copy sheets, and folded sheet element separating method
|May 29, 1987
|Jun 20, 1989
|Man Roland Druckmashinen Ag
|Apparatus for receiving and transporting folded sheets or sheet packages
|Aug 29, 1988
|Mar 20, 1990
|Schaffron Helmut T
|Bag stacking machine
|Jan 23, 1989
|Aug 21, 1990
|Man Roland Druckmaschinen Ag
|Addressing system for products located in or on a plurality of storage holders particularly folded printed products
|Aug 17, 1989
|Nov 26, 1991
|Ferag Ag
|Method and means for tabloid further processing
|May 10, 1991
|Apr 21, 1992
|Ferag Ag
|Method and apparatus for the post-printing cluster processing of printed products
|May 4, 1990
|May 5, 1992
|Man Roland Druckmaschinen Ag
|Apparatus to remove folded products, particularly folded newspaper products or newspaper sections, from a carrier structure, and method of such removal
|Mar 28, 1989
|Jul 14, 1992
|Man Roland Druckmaschinen Ag
|Apparatus for receiving, storing and processing printed products
|Title not available
|Aug 26, 1989
|Mar 14, 1990
|Ferag AG
|Arrangement for the further processing of tabloids
|Title not available
|Patent Abstracts of Japan vol. 10, No. 193 (M 496) (2249) Jul. 8, 1986 & JP A 61 037 667 (Hitachi Seiko) Feb. 22, 1986.
|Patent Abstracts of Japan--vol. 10, No. 193 (M-496) (2249) Jul. 8, 1986 & JP-A-61 037 667 (Hitachi Seiko) Feb. 22, 1986.
|Citing Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Jun 7, 1995
|May 13, 1997
|Ferag Ag
|Apparatus for producing printed products
|Dec 9, 2003
|May 16, 2006
|Quad/Tech, Inc.
|Printing press folder and folder components
|Aug 19, 2004
|Jun 20, 2006
|Bescorp, Inc.
|Folder with telescoping stacker and set feeder
|Jun 5, 2003
|Jun 27, 2006
|Bescorp, Inc.
|Folder with set feeder and telescoping stacker
|Aug 19, 2004
|Aug 22, 2006
|Bescorp, Inc.
|Method of folding and stacking multiple-sheet sets
|Jun 30, 2006
|May 29, 2007
|Bescorp, Inc.
|Method of folding and stacking multiple sheet sets
|Jul 21, 2011
|Dec 2, 2014
|Biztechone Co., Ltd.
|Paper folding apparatus for binding machine
|Dec 9, 2003
|Jun 9, 2005
|Quad/Tech, Inc.
|Printing press folder and folder components
|Jun 30, 2006
|Nov 2, 2006
|Bescorp, Inc.
|Method of folding and stacking multiple sheet sets
|Jul 21, 2011
|Feb 23, 2012
|Jung Kijo
|Paper folding apparatus for binding machine
|U.S. Classification
|270/45, 493/416, 270/20.1
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Jul 13, 1993
Owner name: MAN ROLAND DRUCKMASCHINEN AG, GERMANY
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:PETERSEN, GODBER;REEL/FRAME:006623/0339
Effective date: 19930629
|Feb 23, 1999
|Maintenance fee reminder mailed
|Aug 1, 1999
|Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees
|Oct 12, 1999
|Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee
Effective date: 19990801


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File:Holberg Moralske tanker.djvu
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Levee project nears key phase
Work to raise levees in Morgan City from Lake End Park to Justa Street may begin before the end of the year. Included in that stretch is a levee section that goes by the Cajun Coast visitors center. The levee work is part of an $18 million project to certify Morgan City's levees for flood insurance purposes and avoid potentially huge rate increases. (The Daily Re-view/Zachary Fitzgerald)
Work on a major part of the Morgan City Levee Improvements Project should start by the year's end with the goal of eventually certifying Morgan City's levee system to avoid astronomical flood insur
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Q&A: Zombie Engagement Photographer Speaks!
Posted by Dan Havlik on Friday September 16, 2011 | Fun, Photo Manipulation
Posted by Dan Havlik on Friday September 16, 2011 | Fun, Photo Manipulation
Photographer Amanda Rynda's "zombie engagement photos" were an Internet sensation this past week, ending up on blogs and websites all over the world.
We caught up with the Los Angeles-based Rynda and asked her a few questions about how it felt to "go viral" and whether she thinks her ghoulishly good photos might start a new trend in wedding photography.
See the full zombie sequence and Rynda's other work here.
PDNPulse: Please give us some background on you and your photo business.
Amanda Rynda: I'm a color stylist for Disney by day and took up photography this year in my spare time to have a new creative outlet. I've been working as an associate photographer with LA-based wedding photographers, Jen Harris and Charise Proctor on the weekends.
PDNPulse: How did the idea come up to do the zombie engagement shoot?
Amanda Rynda: Juliana and Ben asked me to shoot their engagement session but they weren't into a soft, PDA filled engagement session. They wanted something fun and quirky to show off their fun-loving and creative personalities. Juliana came to me and said, "Ben and I want to survive a zombie attack and then hug because we're in love." It was such a fun idea, I knew right away we'd have a great time making it happen.
PDNPulse: Had you ever done anything like this before?
Amanda Rynda: No, I've never shot anything like this before. I'm pretty new to photography so I haven't worked with too many clients of my own yet. I'm just so happy to have been given the opportunity to work with people as fun, creative and eager to open up as much as Ben and Juliana did for this e-session. I hope that trend continues.
PDNPulse: What do you think of the huge Internet reaction to this?
Amanda Rynda: I can not believe the Internet reaction to these photos: it's awesome! It was really funny at first because I barely have an Internet presence at all. I had just signed up for Twitter and was trying to make a webpage for myself when all of a sudden I was being contacted by people all over the world asking to post the photos on their websites and blogs. The photos have even become a meme! I saw one of my photos with a Photoshopped in Burger King man creeping up on the couple instead of the zombie. HA! I also received illustrated fan art of the photos too which is so amazing! It has truly been overwhelming and something I never could of planned for, but at the same time it's so exciting!
PDNPulse: Have you received other requests from other couples to do something similar?
Amanda Rynda: Yes, I have been in contact with a few other couples who want to do something along the same lines. I'd love to be a part of more creative, fun and out of the box type photo sessions in the future. My hope though is that couples can be inspired by this particular theme but come up with unique ideas that will reflect their own creativity and showcase their own personalities rather than mimicking someone else's chosen display of love. I think an engagement session is a great opportunity for couples to be who they are and just have fun with it!
PDNPulse: Do you think these sort of themed engagement and/or wedding shoots might be a good new source of revenue for wedding photographers?
Amanda Rynda: I do think that themed shoots would be a great new source of revenue for photographers. However, I think it goes beyond just having a theme. What I believe sets this session apart from other e-sessions is that this theme tells a story, similar to how a comic book might. Like I said earlier, I'm pretty new to photography. I've been working in the animation industry for the past five years so I bring a different set of skills into play. I love to see a pretty, technically sound picture just like anyone else but my hope for Ben and Juliana's photo session was that we could tell a story together and I could practice my photography in the process.
PDNPulse: How did you get the interesting color cast to these zombie shots? They look, appropriately, like they're from a 1970s horror film. (As a related question, what kind of gear do you use?)
Amanda Rynda: I knew I wanted the editing and color palette to change throughout because I thought color would be a good tool to communicate the story. So, when I sat down to edit I thought about it as if I was watching a zombie film and pausing it every so often. I was basically pretending to be a storyboard artist and a director and I felt that in order to push the story there needed to be some specific color choices made. I just played around in Adobe Lightroom 3 to get the results and then did some further zombifying in Photoshop.
I shot this session on a used Canon 5D that I bought online and a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.
Posted by Stacey Goldberg on Friday August 19, 2016 | Fun, Uncategorized
Here at PDN, every day is World Photography Day. But in recognition of August 19th's international holiday dedicated to celebrating passion for photography, PDN's editors are bringing attention to some of the most popular photographs that you, our readers, have enjoyed over the past three years. We've dug through our archives to showcase some of the most popular... More ›
Posted by Greg Scoblete on Wednesday August 17, 2016 | Fun
Meet the man with the largest camera collection in the world. More ›
Posted by Holly Hughes on Wednesday August 10, 2016 | Fun
Back in the Days, photographer Jamel Shabazz's classic photo book on 1980s street style and the roots of hip hop culture, has never been in out of print since it was published in 2001. Now Shabazz's collection of street photography is getting a fun remix. Book publisher powerHouse Books, which published the original Back in... More ›


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The first gush was impressive enough, but when this guy digs into the gigantic zit on his cheek, he unleashes the bowels of hell.
Okay, perhaps that is a slight exaggeration, but it looks like someone's bowels unleashed—all over the mirror.
RELATED: She needed a splash guard for this zit.
His buddies in the dorm just can't get over the amount of goo and cheese spewing out of the mound sized blemish. And neither can we.


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In information technology, a glyph (pronounced GLIHF ; from a Greek word meaning carving) is a graphic symbol that provides the appearance or form for a character. A glyph can be an alphabetic or numeric font or some other symbol that pictures an encoded character. The following is from a document written as background for the Unicode character set standard.
An ideal characterization of characters and glyphs and their relationship may be stated as follows:
A character conveys distinctions in meaning or sounds. A character has no intrinsic appearance.
A glyph conveys distinctions in form. A glyph has no intrinsic meaning.
One or more characters may be depicted by one or more glyph representations (instances of an abstract glyph) in a possibly context dependent fashion.
In the Unicode standard, a character is stated to be an abstract entity and not a glyph (some visual representation of a character).
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September 5, 2003
A.F.I.K. HOLDING SPRL, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY SITUATED, PLAINTIFFS,v.SIM FASS, CHRISTOPHER G. CLEMENT, YEHUDA STERNLICHT, AND BIO-TECHNOLOGY GENERAL CORP., DEFENDANTS.CONGREGATION KEREN YOEL INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY SITUATED, PLAINTIFFS,v.SIM FASS, CHRISTOPHER G. CLEMENT, YEHUDA STERNLICHT, AND BIO-TECHNOLOGY GENERAL CORP., DEFENDANTS.GAIL WEST, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY SITUATED, PLAINTIFFS,v.CHRISTOPHER G. CLEMENT, JOHN A. BOND, YEHUDA STERNLICHT, SIM FASS, AND BIO-TECHNOLOGY GENERAL CORP., DEFENDANTS.THOMAS COLLINS, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY SITUATED, PLAINTIFFS,v.BIO-TECHNOLOGY GENERAL CORP., SIM FASS, CHRISTOPHER G. CLEMENT, JOHN A. BOND, AND YEHUDA STERNLICHT, DEFENDANTS.BETTY S. WILEY, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY SITUATED, PLAINTIFFS,v.BIO-TECHNOLOGY GENERAL CORP., SIM FASS, JOHN BOND, AND YEHUDA STERNLICHT, DEFENDANTS.PAUL D. DAGGETT, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY SITUATED, PLAINTIFFS,v.CHRISTOPHER G. CLEMENT, JOHN A. BOND, YEHUDA STERNLICHT, SIM FASS, AND BIO-TECHNOLOGY GENERAL CORP., DEFENDANTS.LILLA YORRA, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY SITUATED, PLAINTIFFS,v.SIM FASS, CHRISTOPHER G. CLEMENT, YEHUDA STERNLICHT, AND BIO-TECHNOLOGY GENERAL CORP., DEFENDANTS.
This matter comes before the Court upon motions of the Louisiana Sheriffs' Pension and Relief Fund, ("Louisiana Sheriffs'" or "LS"), Joseph Rago and Poalim Mutual Funds ("The PKN Group"), Anthony J. Caggiano ("Caggiano"), and Steven Guerra, Howard Weissberg *fn1 , and Rebecca Detsch (collectively, "The Guerra Group"), to consolidate the captioned actions, to be appointed lead plaintiff, and for approval of the selected lead plaintiff's choice of lead counsel. For the reasons outlined below, the PKN Group's unopposed motion for consolidation is hereby GRANTED, its motion to be appointed lead plaintiff is GRANTED, its motion for approval of its choice of Glancy and Binkow and the Dekel-Sabo Law Firm to be appointed Lead Counsel is also GRANTED, and all other similar motions are correspondingly DENIED. Hereinafter, this consolidated case shall be captioned In re Bio-Technology General Corp. Securities Litigation, Civil Action No. 2:02cv6048.
I. Introduction
Presently pending before this Court are six related securities class action lawsuits (the "Actions") brought on behalf of public investors who purchased the common stock of Bio-Technology General Corp. ("BTG" or the "Company") from April 19, 1999 to August 2, 2002, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The related actions allege violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("PSLRA") (15 U.S.C. § 78(j)(b) and 78(t)) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder (17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5). BTG is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Iselin, New Jersey. BTG is engaged in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of biopharmaceutical products. Through a combination of internal research and development, acquisitions, collaborative relationships and licensing arrangements, the Company has a portfolio of therapeutic products, including nine products that have received regulatory approval for sale and are currently being marketed. Additionally, the Company has four products in registration or clinical trials and several products in pre-clinical development. The Company distributes its products through a direct sales force in the United States and through third-party license and distribution relationships in international markets. BTG is listed on the NASDAQ National Market.
The Complaint alleges that BTG and certain of its executive officers violated federal securities laws by disseminating materially false and misleading statements concerning BTG's revenue and earnings, which caused the stock price to become artificially inflated, damaging investors. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that, in order to inflate the price of the stock, Defendants caused the Company to falsely report its earnings during 1999, 2000, and 2001 through inappropriate revenue recognition practices, including recognizing revenue where significant uncertainties existed relating to realization of the invoiced amounts. On August 2, 2002 BTG announced that it would have to restate its publicly reported financial results for 1999, 2000, and 2001, thereby allegedly admitting that it violated generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and that its financial statements for the period were false and misleading. On October 4, 2002, BTG's outside auditors announced that they were resigning and that they believed that the Company's internal controls were deficient and needed to be significantly strengthened. As a result of these revelations, BTG's common stock dropped from a Class Period high of $20.44 per share to a low of $2.10 per share on October 7, 2002.
Plaintiff A.F.I.K. Holding SPRL ("A.F.I.K.") filed the first related action in this case (02-cv-6048) on December 20, 2002. In accordance with the statutory requirement, A.F.I.K. published a notice of pendency of its action on January 10, 2003, within 20 days of filing the action. 15 U.S.C. §§ 78u-4(a)(3)(A)(i). The notice informed class members that they may move the Court no later than March 11, 2003 to serve as Lead Plaintiff, within 60 days after publication of the notice pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §§ 78u-4(a)(3)(A) and (B). On March 11, 2003, four different individuals or entities moved this Court to consolidate the actions, to be appointed Lead Plaintiff and for this Court's approval of the selected Lead Plaintiff's choice of Lead Counsel. Those four entities or individuals are the aforementioned Louisiana Sheriffs, Caggiano, the Guerra Group, and the PKN Plaintiffs' Group. The Court is now faced with the task of appointing as lead plaintiff the member or members of the class which it determines to be most capable of adequately representing the interests of the class. 15 U.S.C. §78u-4(a)(3)(B). This appointment process is highly regulated both by statute and by the seminal opinion in this circuit, In re Cendant Corporation Litigation, 264 F.3d 201 (3d Cir. 2001). First, though, the Court will pause to address the issue of consolidation.
II. Consolidation
Fed. R. Civ. P. 42(a) states that "[w]hen actions involving a common question of law or fact are pending before the court, it may...order all the actions consolidated." See also Nanavati v. Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hosp., 857 F.2d 96, 103 n. 3 (3d Cir. 1988) (consolidation is appropriate where there are actions involving common questions of law or fact); Fields v. Biomatrix, Inc., 198 F.R.D. 451, 454 (D.N.J. 2000) (same) (citations omitted); Liberty Lincoln Mercury, Inc. v. Ford Marketing Corp., 149 F.R.D. 65, 80 (D.N.J. 1993) ("Rule 42(a) gives the [d]istrict [c]court 'broad powers to consolidate actions involving common questions of law or fact if, in its discretion, such consolidation would facilitate the administration of justice,' " quoting Waste Distillation Tech., Inc. v. Pan American Resources, Inc., 775 F.Supp. 759, 761 (D.Del.1991)). Moreover, the PSLRA directs that cases should be consolidated where there is "more than one action on behalf of a class asserting substantially the same claim or claims." 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(3)(B)(ii).
Neither the PSLRA nor Rule 42 requires that pending suits be identical before they can be consolidated. Rather, in deciding whether to consolidate actions under Rule 42(a), the court must balance the risk of prejudice and possible confusion against the risk of inconsistent adjudications of common factual and legal issues, the burden on the parties and witnesses, the length of time required to conclude multiple lawsuits as against a single one, and the relative expense to all concerned of the single-trial and multiple-trial alternatives. In re Consolidated Parlodel Litig., 182 F.R.D. 441, 444 (D.N.J. 1998) (citations omitted); Chill v. Green Tree Financial Corp., 181 F.R.D. 398, 405 (D.Minn. 1998) (citations omitted); see also Takeda v. Turbodyne Technologies, Inc., 67 F. Supp. 2d 1129, 1133 (C.D.Ca. 1999) ("[A] court must balance the savings of time and effort consolidation will produce against any inconvenience, delay, confusion, or prejudice that may result."). In the absence of an articulated basis to assert confusion or prejudice, consolidation is generally appropriate. In re Lucent Technologies Inc. Securities Litigation, 221 F. Supp. 2d 472, 480 (D.N.J. 2001).
In the instant case, as was mentioned above, all of the related actions allege violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended by the PSLRA. In fact, all of the actions make the same claims against the same defendant for the same actions during the same period of time. There appears to be no reason to believe that consolidation would cause inconvenience, delay, confusion, or prejudice, nor has any objector stepped forward to articulate any basis for such a belief. As consolidation of class action securities fraud actions is generally the norm, this Court will exercise its authority under Fed. R. Civ. P. 42(a) and consolidate these actions, which henceforth shall be captioned In re Bio-Technology General Corp. Securities Litigation.
III. Identifying the Most Adequate Plaintiff
A. Rule 23 and the Cendant Standard
In determining the "most adequate plaintiff," the Court must adopt a presumption that:
the most adequate plaintiff in any private action arising under [the PSLRA] is the person or group of persons that:
(aa) has either filed the complaint or made a motion in response to a notice....
(bb) in the determination of the court, has the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class; and
(cc) otherwise satisfies the requirements of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(3)(B)(iii).
Other parties may rebut this presumption "only upon proof by a member of the purported plaintiff class that the presumptively most adequate plaintiff-(aa) will not fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class; or (bb) is subject to unique defenses that render such plaintiff incapable of adequately representing the class." Id. § 78u-4(a)(3)(B)(iii)(II).
The Third Circuit has described the draftsmanship of this section as "inartful and hence problematic." See generally, Cendant, 264 F.3d at 263-265 (discussing overall structure and legislative history of the statute to reconcile an ambiguity that makes the typicality and adequacy requirements of Rule 23 both part of the threshold identification of the presumptive lead plaintiff and the sole means of rebutting the lead plaintiff presumption). Thus, the Third Circuit refined the lead plaintiff selection and rebuttal process and established a standard procedure.
First, a court must determine whether the movant with the largest financial interest in the case has made a prima facie showing of typicality and adequacy so that it "otherwise satisfies" Rule 23. Id. at 263. This determination should be a product of the court's independent judgment. Id. The court may and should consider the pleadings that have been filed, the movant's application, and any other information that the court requires to be submitted. Id. at 264. Once a prima facie showing has been made, it is a rebuttable presumption that this movant will serve as the lead plaintiff. Id. Arguments by members of the purported plaintiff class as to why the movant with the largest financial losses does not otherwise satisfy Rule 23 should be considered only in the context of assessing whether the presumption has been rebutted, and not by the court during the initial, prima facie inquiry. Id. at 263-64. In making the prima facie determination of typicality, the court should apply traditional Rule 23 principles, specifically, whether the circumstances of the movant with the largest losses "are markedly different or the legal theory upon which the claims [of that movant] are based differ[] from that upon which the claims of the other class members will perforce be based." Id. at 265, (quoting Hassine v. Jeffes, 846 F.2d 169, 177 (3d Cir. 1988)); see also Georgine v. Amchem Products, Inc., 83 F.3d 610, 631 (3d. Cir. 1996). Likewise, in making the prima facie determination of adequacy a court should consider whether the movant "has the ability and incentive to represent the claims of the class vigorously, [whether it] has obtained adequate counsel, and [whether] there is [a] conflict between [the movant's] claims and those asserted on behalf of the class." Id., (quoting Hassine, 846 F.2d at 179); see also Georgine, 83 F.3d at 630 (stating that the adequacy of representation inquiry involves consideration of both whether "the interests of the named plaintiffs [are] sufficiently aligned with those of the absentees" and whether "class counsel [is] qualified and [will] serve the interests of the entire class"). (Emphasis supplied).
Furthermore, in making the initial adequacy assessment, courts should consider two additional factors. The court should inquire whether the movant has demonstrated a willingness and ability to select competent class counsel and to negotiate a reasonable agreement with that counsel. Id. at 265. If the movant with the largest financial losses lacks legal experience or sophistication, or selects lead counsel plainly incapable of undertaking the representation, or if it negotiates a clearly unreasonable fee agreement with its chosen counsel, the court might conclude that the movant had failed to surmount the threshold adequacy inquiry. Id. Again, the question at this prima facie stage is not whether the court would approve that movant's choice of counsel, or the terms of its retainer agreement, or whether another movant may have chosen better lawyers or negotiated a better fee agreement. Instead, the relevant question is "whether the choices made by the movant with the largest losses are so deficient as to demonstrate that it will not fairly and adequately represent the interests of the class, thus disqualifying it from serving as lead plaintiff at all." Id. at 266.
Another factor in making the threshold adequacy determination arises only when the movant with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class is a group rather than an individual person or entity. A "group of persons" is explicitly allowed to serve as lead plaintiff. 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(3)(B)(iii)(I). This group of persons need not be related in some manner. Cendant, 264 F.3d at 266. Courts should generally presume, however, that groups with more than five members are too large to work effectively. Id. at 267.
Should the court determine that the movant with the largest losses cannot make a threshold showing of typicality or adequacy, then the court should explain its reasoning on the record and disqualify that movant from serving as lead plaintiff. Id. The court should then identify the movant with the next largest loss, consider whether the movant satisfies the Rule 23 requirements, and repeat this process until the presumptive lead plaintiff is identified. Id.
Once the presumptive lead plaintiff has been identified, the court should turn to the question of whether or not any of the other movants have rebutted the presumption. Id. at 268. Only class members may seek to rebut the presumption, thereby excluding arguments from defendants and non-class members. Id. Once the presumption has been established, the question is not whether another movant might do a better job of protecting the interests of the class than the presumptive lead plaintiff. Rather, the question is whether anyone can prove that the presumptive lead plaintiff will not do a "fair[] and adequate []" job. Id. If no class member succeeds in rebutting the presumption, the court should appoint the presumptive lead plaintiff as lead plaintiff. If the presumption has been rebutted, however, the court must begin the process anew until a lead plaintiff is selected. Id.
B. Applying the Standards
The Guerra group filed the complaint in this matter, whereas the PKN group, Caggiano, and Louisiana Sheriffs' all filed their motions in response to notice. Consequently, all four movants meet prong (aa) of the most adequate plaintiff test. The PKN group's total losses are represented to be $797,070.68, followed by Caggiano's losses of approximately $205,355, Louisiana Sheriff's losses of $189,600, and the Guerra group's losses of $53,965.62. Accordingly, the PKN group has the largest financial stake in the relief sought by the class, thereby surpassing the other movants on prong (bb). The question remains, therefore, whether the PKN group "(cc) otherwise satisfies the requirements of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure." 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(3)(B)(iii).
To answer this question the Court must follow the Third Circuit's directive to look to whether the movant with the largest stake in the outcome has made a prima facie showing of typicality and adequacy. The PKN group, like all members of the class, alleges that defendants violated the Exchange Act by publicly disseminating a series of false and misleading statements concerning BTG's financial condition. (PKN Memorandum of Law, Mar. 11, 2003 at 8-9). Accordingly, the circumstances of the PKN group are not markedly different from those of other class members. Moreover, the PKN group purchased BTG stock during the Class Period at prices allegedly inflated by the misleading statements, and therefore PKN seeks recovery under the same legal theory as other members of the class, for injuries caused by the same alleged acts. Thus, the PKN group has made a prima facie showing that it is typical of the class.
The PKN group must also be an adequate representative of the class. The PKN group is composed of an individual named Joseph Rago, and Poalim Mutual Funds, Ltd. Poalim Mutual Funds is an Israeli mutual fund management company subject to Israel's Joint Investment Trust Law, 5754-1994. (See Decl. of Jacob Sabo, Ex. A, April 10, 2003 at 1.) Established in 1962, Poalim Mutual Funds manages 36 mutual funds with combined assets under management of approximately $1.37 billion as of March 31, 2003. (See Decl. of Eldad Malkin, Managing Director, Poalim Mutual Funds, Ltd., ¶3.) Mr. Malkin has submitted an affidavit stating that Poalim Mutual Funds "understands that the captioned case comprises complex litigation and stands ready, willing, and able to represent the class in this action." Id., ¶8. *fn2
As the class member with the largest loss, the PKN Group has at least as much incentive as the other class members to pursue a recovery vigorously. Moreover, the fact that Poalim Mutual Funds is an institutional investor accords with one of the policy objectives of the PSLRA, namely, that institutional investors serve as lead plaintiffs. Cendant, 264 F.3d at 276 ("Both the Conference Committee Report and the Senate Report state that the purpose of the [PSLRA] was to encourage institutional investors to serve as lead plaintiff, predicting that their involvement would significantly benefit absent class members.") See also House Conference Report No. 104-369, Cong. 1st Sess. at 34 (1995) ("The Conference Committee seeks to increase the likelihood that institutional investors will serve as lead plaintiffs by requiring that courts presume that the member of the purported class with the largest financial stake in the relief is the `most adequate plaintiff.'")
Additionally, the PKN group appears to have selected adequate counsel. The group proposes that Glancy & Binkow LLP and Dekel-Sabo serve as co-lead counsel. Glancy & Binkow, a Los Angeles firm with an office in New York, New York, specializes in securities fraud, antitrust, and complex commercial litigation, and is presently serving as lead counsel or co-lead counsel in at least a dozen class action securities fraud litigations throughout the Untied States. (See Decl. of Lee Squitieri, March 11, 2003, Ex. D.) Likewise, the Dekel-Sabo firm, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, specializes in commercial and corporate law. *fn3 Id. The PKN Group's choice of lead counsel appears to be competent, and is certainly not plainly incapable of undertaking the representation. Furthermore, this Court has conducted an in camera review of the agreement reached between the Glancy and Binkow firm and Poalim Mutual Funds, as well as the agreement reached between Glancy and Binkow and Joseph Rago, and cannot conclude that these agreements are "clearly unreasonable." *fn4 Accordingly, the group's choice cannot be said to be so deficient as to demonstrate that it will not fairly and adequately represent the interests of the class.
Finally, the PKN group is comprised of more than one entity, encompassing both the PKN Biotechnology Fund as well as an individual named Joseph Rago. Since a group of persons is explicitly permitted to serve as lead plaintiff, and since the PKN group consists of only two such persons, the presumption that groups with more than five members is too large to work effectively is inapplicable here.
Accordingly, the Court finds that the PKN Group has made a prima facie showing that it is presumptively the most adequate lead plaintiff. The Court now turns to the question of whether any of the other movants have successfully rebutted that presumption.
IV. Rebutting the Presumption
The Defendant Bio-Technology General Corporation's own filing with the SEC discloses that Bank Hapoalim, the "grandparent" company of Poalim Mutual Funds *fn5 , is BTG's sole lender and that it has a loan outstanding to a wholly owned subsidiary of BTG of almost $20 million. Objectors Louisiana Sheriffs' and Caggiano argue that this fact alone rebuts the presumption the PKN Group is the most adequate plaintiff, as it makes Poalim Mutual Funds neither a typical member of the class nor an adequate class representative pursuant to Rule 23. Specifically, the objectors argue that the $20 million loan creates a conflict of interest between the Poalim Mutual Funds and the remaining class members, because Poalim Mutual Funds' grandparent company Bank Hapoalim ultimately has a greater incentive of ensuring that its $20 million loan is repaid than in Poalim Mutual Funds' recovery of its $650,000 worth of losses during the Class Period. The objectors argue that there are serious questions about the financial viability of BTG as well as its liquidity: as of its latest submission, LS represents that BTG's stock was trading at $3 per share, that BTG will have to restate its financial statements for the last three years, and that BTG's prior auditor, KPMG LLP, resigned because it believed that BTG's financial reporting procedures were significantly deficient (Louisiana Sheriffs' Memorandum in Further Supp. and In Opp'n to Competing Motions, March 31, 2003 at 8.) As of September 30, 2002, BTG had only $15 million in cash, compared to $75 million as of December 31, 2001. Louisiana Sheriffs' represents that damages pursuant to the securities claim could "very well exceed $100 million." Id. Of further concern is that the $20 million loan is secured by the Company's assets. (See Ex. D, BTG's Form 10-Q at 23.) The concern is that if there are insufficient funds for BTG to satisfy both the $20 million loan and the securities claim, the PKN Group would have the first rights to sell off the assets and potentially leave the class with no recovery.
Not surprisingly, the PKN Group disputes this account of BTG's financial status, pointing out that the Company is a viable corporation with reported net income of $9.71 million for its most recent financial reporting year, total debt of $19.7 million and an enterprise value of approximately $202 million. (PKN Group Reply Memorandum at 11.) PKN further points out, correctly, that LS's damage estimate of over $100 million is purely speculative, as LS admits it has undertaken no damage assessment at this point. Moreover, PKN observes that pushing the company into bankruptcy would likely injure all shareholders and that in several recent high profile cases plaintiffs have agreed to settlements short of pushing the defendant into bankruptcy for fear of harming themselves as much as the defendant. (See PKN Reply Memo, Ex. A., "Lucent Holders May Get Little In Settlement, Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2003.")
The PKN Group also asserts that the objectors' concerns are based on a number of unanalyzed assumptions. First and foremost is the assumption that Poalim Mutual Funds will ultimately act in the best interests of its grandparent company rather than in its own best interests. While the PKN group acknowledges that Poalim Mutual Funds's grandparent is Bank Hapoalim, it points out that Poalim Mutual Funds and Bank Hapoalim are two distinct companies with two distinct boards of directors. (Sabo Decl. In Support of PKN Plaintiff Group's Reply In Supp. of Motion For Appointment As Lead Plaintiff And For Approval Of Its Selection Of Lead Counsel ("Sabo Decl."), ¶¶9, 10, 11.) Moreover, the PKN Group asserts that Poalim Mutual Funds is precluded by Israeli law from compromising the interests of its investors. (Sabo Decl. ¶¶5, 6.) Further, Poalim Mutual Funds asserts that it makes its investment decisions independent of Bank Hapoalim. (Malkin Decl., ¶5). Therefore, the PKN Group asserts, the conflict of interest claim is overstated.
While these representations are somewhat helpful to the Court, they do not alleviate the sense that a nascent conflict of interest exists here. The question, though, is whether this nascent conflict of interest is strong enough to rebut the presumption that the PKN Plaintiffs Group is the most adequate lead plaintiff. The Court resolves this issue by reference, again, to the seminal case in this circuit. In Cendant, the Third Circuit was faced with a similar issue. The lead plaintiff in that case continued to hold "huge amounts" of Cendant stock during the settlement negotiations. Cendant, 264 F.3d at 243. On appeal, one of the members of the class argued that the lead plaintiff had been subject to a conflict of interest on account of its ongoing investments in Cendant, and that this conflict rendered it inadequate for purposes of representing the class. Specifically, the objector argued that the lead plaintiff was clearly conflicted between trying to get maximum recovery for the class and trying to protect its ongoing investment in the corporation, e.g. by settling cheap or by securing corporate governance changes in lieu of cash, an argument which mirrors the conflict alleged in the current case at bar. Id. While acknowledging that this thesis was "attractive," the Third Circuit rejected it, holding that Congress itself had rejected this reasoning in crafting the PSLRA. By pointing out that the PSLRA's legislative history expressly states that Congress anticipated and intended that institutional investors would serve as lead plaintiffs, and by presuming that Congress was aware that an institutional investor with enormous stakes in a company was very unlikely to divest itself of all its holdings in the company even after an alleged securities fraud, the Circuit Court concluded that "Congress must have thought that the situation created here does not inherently create an unacceptable conflict of interest." Id. at 244 (emphasis added).
The question, then, is whether this argument can be extended to encompass parent or even grandparent companies who do not necessarily own stock in the defendant company, but nevertheless have a strong financial stake in that company's future. This Court believes that it can. If Poalim Mutual Funds itself had extended the loan directly to BTG, this Court would have to conclude, under Cendant, that such a loan would not inherently create an unacceptable conflict of interest. The fact that the loan was extended by the grandparent company further attenuates the conflict. This is not to suggest that there is no conceivable conflict of interest that could disqualify a potential lead plaintiff. But this Court interprets Cendant to stand for the proposition that the lead plaintiff's continued financial stake in the defendant is not in and of itself sufficient to raise an unacceptable and disqualifying conflict of interest. Objectors must come forward with something more. It is true that Poalim Mutual Funds has made what can be best described as a modest effort to demonstrate its independence from Bank Hapoalim. For example, Eldad Malkin, the Managing Director of Poalim Mutual Funds who signed the certification, is listed as a member of the board of directors of Polaim Mutual Funds' parent Poalim Financial Holdings. It is also true that the more independent Poalim Mutual Funds is from Bank Hapoalim, the better this Court feels it will represent the class. But in the final analysis, Poalim Mutual Funds' independence from its parent and grandparent companies is not really relevant under Cendant. The relevant issue is whether it (and Joseph Rago) suffered the largest financial loss for the same allegedly improper actions that injured the rest of the class.
Louisiana Sheriffs' points out that the lead plaintiff's grandparent would stand ahead of the rest of the class should BTG be forced into bankruptcy. This fact, however, would remain true regardless of the identity of the lead plaintiff. Moreover, that fact alone does not lead to the conclusion that Poalim Mutual Funds would be less zealous in pursuing a full recovery. In short, the loan itself is not sufficient enough reason to rebut the presumption.
A second concern raised by the objectors is that Bank Hapoalim-and by extension, the PKN Group-may have had direct dealings with BTG, including access to BTG's financial information that was not available to the other members of the class. If this is the case, the objectors argue, it could subject the PKN Group to the unique defense that it relied on direct representations made by the Company when it purchased BTG's securities. The class's theory of reliance would presumably be based on the fraud on the market theory, namely, that the price of the stock incorporated all publicly available information on BTG, and to the extent this information was false and misleading the price of the stock was artificially inflated and investors were defrauded. Therefore, PKN's theory of reliance could differ from the rest of the class's theory, namely, that it relied on direct representations from the defendant. Accordingly, the objectors argue, the PKN Group does not "otherwise satisfy the requirements of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure." 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(3)(B)(iii)(I)(cc). In support of this position, the objectors cite two pre-PSLRA cases, Landry v. Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants, 123 F.R.D. 474, 476 (S.D.N.Y. 1989) and Gary Plastics Packaging Corp, v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 903 F.2d 176, 180 (2d Cir. 1990), two cases which refused to certify a class where its putative representative was subject to unique defenses.
Typically, courts will find a disqualifying unique defense where the potential named plaintiff has had a direct or personal relationship with a board member or officer of the issuing company. In re Independent Energy Holdings PLC Securities Litig., 210 F.R.D. 476, 481 (S.D.N.Y. 2002). However, courts rarely find such disqualifying defenses in the absence of evidence that the named plaintiff received non-public information from a corporate officer. Id. Thus, in several cases where the lead plaintiff had direct and personal contacts with an officer of the defendant, no disqualifying unique defense was found since no evidence was presented that the lead plaintiff had been privy to non-public information and there was no indication in the record that the lead plaintiff had purchased its shares in reliance upon anything other than public information. See id.; see also Dietrich v. Bauer, 192 F.R.D. 119, 125 (S.D.N.Y. 2000), Hallet v. Li & Fung, Ltd., No. 95 Civ. 8917, 1997 WL 621111, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 6, 1997), Cosmas v. DelGiorno, No. CV-94-1974, 1995 WL 62598, at *3 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 8, 1995).
Here, the objectors have presented no evidence of direct contact between the presumed lead plaintiff and any of the defendant's corporate officers. Certainly there is no evidence in the record that suggests the PKN Plaintiffs Group relied on non-public information in deciding to invest in BTG. Consequently, this Court cannot disqualify the PKN Group on the basis that it is subject to unique defenses.
LS, The Guerra Group, and Caggiano have all pointed out that The PKN Group was late in filing some of its submissions with this Court. Specifically, the PKN Group was late in submitting its reply memorandum. The PKN Group has acknowledged its error and apologized to the Court for the inconvenience. Obviously, this Court expects that going forward, the PKN Group will file its papers punctually. The Court has excused the late filing and finds that this is insufficient grounds to rebut the presumption that PKN is the most adequate lead plaintiff.
As a final matter, the objectors argue that the PKN Group is an improper aggregation of parties. Specifically, the objectors argue that the PKN Group has not submitted any evidence that its constituent members, Poalim Mutual Funds and Joseph Rago, had a pre-existing relationship other than the mere fact that they both invested in BTG and are represented by the same counsel. (LS Memorandum in Further Supp. at 12). In the Third Circuit, no such pre-existing relationship is necessary. See supra at 11. LS simply ignores this fact, citing cases in support of this proposition that are either from outside this Circuit or are clearly distinguishable. See, e.g., Smith v. Suprema Specialties, Inc., 206 F. Supp. 2d 627, 635 (D.N.J. 2002) (finding improper aggregation of twenty-two unrelated parties); Sakhrani v. Brightpoint, Inc., 76 F. Supp. 2d 845 (S.D. Ind. 1999) (outside the Third Circuit). Accordingly, there is nothing improper about the aggregation of Rago and Poalim Mutual Funds into the PKN Group.
V. Conclusion
For the aforementioned reasons, this Court will consolidate the various actions before it, and appoint The PKN Group as lead plaintiff, Glancy and Binkow and the Dekel-Sabo Law Firm as lead counsel.
Harold A. Ackerman, U.S.D.J.
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78 reviews | 4.4 out of 5
I bought these when my son had a running nose because they were out of the generic Boogie wipes. These are way too wet to use on the nose. It is good to throw in your purse for dirty hands, face or to wipe germs away on something. But do not use on the nose it will not help from getting a raw nose. It makes it nice they are in a small package but not different if you have unscented or sensitive wipes in your dipper bag. These are just way more for the convince of the packaging size. They do smell good.
Great to clean messy hands and face. Never causes any irritation!
i was looking for a replacement to using hand sanitizer because my hands were drying out. i found these and absolutely love them when i need to wipe my hands, neck or face. i keep a pack at work and in the car.
I loved the idea of this product; and then I used it. Within 5 minutes of using a wipe on my baby's face she turned red everywhere I had just used it! It took a little over 2 hours for the redness to fully go away.
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Initially I loved this product. The scent is fantastic and they are so convenient and easy to use. They get the milk off of my little one's face better than a burp cloth and quick when I'm traveling or running errands. I thought my baby was suffering from baby acne, but every time I stop using the wipes her face clears up and if I use them again the rash reappears. I don't think this is case for every baby, but if your baby has sensitive skin, please be aware that these wipes could cause a rash.
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Not only are these great for hands & faces but they get stains out of clothing & apholstry too. I keep packages every where so they're always easily available.
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Yesterday afternoon we opened and used one wipe on our baby's face, by evening her face broke out in a rash. Nothing else had been used on her face before or until the rash broke out. The lot number on this package is: LOT2263NK. I see by other reviews that this has occurred previously, I sincerely hope your company will take action and find the irritating ingredient and warn and correct the problem. We have pictures of the rash, it that would be helpful. Certainly cannot recommend this product at this time.
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I would not recommend this product. It caused a red rash all over my Baby's cheeks and chin. Don't waste your money. I'll just use a warm wash cloth with water for now on.
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Excellent price and they are the best hand and face wipes that I know of.
Red rash after using on face. Please discontinue this product!!!
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Great for toddler
My babies face broke out in a rash as well, the day after I started using the wipes. Definitely will not use again!
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I love these wipes! They're gentle on the face and hands. Plus they smell great! I've used regular wipes for cleanups as well but my son seems to tolerate these better. I think these feel softer than regular wipes. I just wish they came in multi packs because it can get kinda costly buying these.
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Unfortunately my baby broke out in a rash all over her face after using this product. I had to wash it off and after several hours, her face still had red bumbs all over. this happened to my sisters baby as well but hers was a delayed reaction. I will not use this again
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I use Johnson's hand and face wipes on no bath days. They are very soft, smell great and have the same no tear formula as most Johnson's products do! They help wipe away the daily grime without harming her skin. I also use them whenever we run errands to keep the germs off her hands (and toes if needed). It's a great way to sanitize safely with a youngster. This is a must have for any changing table and diaper bag!
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I have a 3 month old baby girl, and I used this product on her face and it broke her out horribly. I had to hurry and give her a bath to try and wash it off. Well needless to say it is still there. I do not know what is in this product, but i do not recommend anyone to use this. I have used any other Johnson's products since she was born, but this is the only one that has broke her out so please atleast wipe her hands before her face to see if they are allergic to it or not.
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