Career Education Corporation Announces Dismissal of Shareholder Derivative Suit
May 12 2006 - 5:32PM
Business Wire
Career Education Corporation (NASDAQ:CECO) announced today that the
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
has dismissed McSparran v. Larson, et al, a shareholder derivative
action against the company and certain of its officers and
directors. The court's order terminates this derivative litigation,
first filed against the company in January 2004. According to the
court's opinion, the only specific allegations are "two instances
of ex-employees making salacious claims that were repeated in a
class action complaint and investigated by the SEC." The court held
that "not every lawsuit means a board was negligent in its
oversight and not every government investigation means a company's
board must relinquish control over litigation on behalf of the
corporation." This latest legal victory follows significant legal
and regulatory progress for the company in the past few months. The
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
recently granted for a second time the company's motion to dismiss
a class action against the company and certain of its current
officers, holding that the plaintiffs once again failed to plead a
violation of securities laws. The court gave the plaintiffs one
last opportunity to file a third amended complaint, which was filed
on May 1, 2006. As it has in the past, Career Education will
continue to vigorously defend this lawsuit. In early March 2006, a
trial judge ruled that the California Bureau for Private
Postsecondary and Vocational Education (the Bureau) improperly
issued Career Education's Brooks Institute of Photography a Notice
of Conditional Approval to Operate, and that the Notice is invalid.
Most significantly, the staff of the Midwest Regional Office of the
Securities and Exchange Commission recently notified Career
Education that it intends to recommend to the SEC that it terminate
its investigation of the company and that no enforcement action be
taken. Recommendations by the SEC staff do not constitute final
action by the SEC, as the SEC thereafter makes its own
determination as to whether to follow the recommendations of the
SEC staff. "The termination of the McSparran suit is additional
evidence of the considerable progress we have made in addressing
legal and regulatory issues," said Janice L. Block, Chief Legal
Officer of Career Education. "We are committed to setting the
record straight and putting these issues behind us, consistent with
our commitment to and priority of growing the company's value for
our students and our stockholders." About Career Education
Corporation The colleges, schools and universities that are part of
the Career Education Corporation (CEC) family offer high quality
education to more than 95,000 students across the world in a
variety of career-oriented disciplines. The 80-plus campuses that
serve these students are located throughout the U. S., Canada,
France, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates and offer
doctoral, master's, bachelor's, and associate degrees and diploma
and certificate programs. Approximately one third of students
attend the web-based virtual campuses of American InterContinental
University Online and Colorado Technical University Online. Career
Education is an industry leader whose gold-standard brands are
recognized globally. Those brands include, among others, the Le
Cordon Bleu Schools North America; the Harrington College of
Design; the Brooks Institute of Photography; the Katharine Gibbs
Schools; American InterContinental University; Colorado Technical
University and Sanford-Brown Institutes and Colleges. The mission
of CEC, through its schools, its educators, and its employees is
education--their primary goal, to enable students to graduate
successfully and pursue rewarding careers. For more information see
www.careered.com. The company's website also has a detailed listing
of individual campus locations and web links for its 80-plus
colleges, schools and universities.
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