Wow - thus far they haven't even reported any ill-gotten gains yet from any supposed stock options manipulation, and the lawsuits are already flying! Incredible.

Yeah people are so money hungry.. they see a little blood and like sharks they go in for the kill.

I'm curious as to how, exactly, the plaintiffs were injured by this.

To say these lawsuit are filed against Apple is a misleading statement and suggests an ignorance regarding the purpose of these lawsuits. Apple's shareholders are not suing Apple for money. These are derivative lawsuits, which mean the shareholders are asking courts to force Apple, which is controlled by a oad of Directors, to sue its Boards of Directors for any damages that their actions may have directly caused to Apple and indirectly to the shareholders. Apple is merely named as a Defendant as a formality.

The lawsuits have little chance of success because company directors and officers are allowed to rely on third parties for advice. Accordingly, it is highly likely that Jobs and company relied on a third party to determine SEC requirements in regards to option grants. As such, Jobs and company will be relieved of any finicial burden stemming from these lawuits. Jobs and company would have had to intentionally break the law for them to have to reimburse Apple for its loses.

Actually, the Plaintiffs will receive no money from this lawsuit. If successful, the named Board of Directors and Officers will have to pay back Apple, the company, for any loses it incurred because of their harmful business practices.

You see the law treats companies as people.
It is Apple the company that has been injured. It is easy to see how Apple has been injured. Look at the stock price. Apple will probably have to pay penalty taxes for its faulty business practice. Consequently, Apple the company will be poorer. The plaintiffs have only indirectly been injured through their ownership of stock which will be less valuable if Apple has to pay the government a penalty for these faulty business practices. The Plaintiff only want the Board of Directors and Officers to pay Apple back for the damages they caused to the company.

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murlyn wrote:
Yeah people are so money hungry.. they see a little blood and like sharks they go in for the kill.

Stockholders can only file two types of lawsuits against a company they own shares in. The first is called a derivative suit, the second is a direct suit. With the direct suit the Plaintiffs are claiming they were personally damaged (e.g lied to by the company before buying stock), and any recoverey will go to them. WIth a derivative suit, which this is, any recovery goes to the company, which is the damaged party.

Apple was injured because 1) its good will has been damaged by telling the public one thing, and then having to go back and say that what it orginally told the public was not true, and 2) it will have to pay penalties to the government, as well as back interest for any money it pays the government late. Also, Apple wants its shares to be valuable, which this has made the shares less valuable.

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Intruder wrote:
I'm curious as to how, exactly, the plaintiffs were injured by this.

This largely is not about the Board of Directors and Officers making ill gotten gains. It is about Apple having to pay back taxes, back interest on late paid taxes, and penalties. This can get quite expensive. It is also about the resulting bad public light this has placed Apple in. These makes Apple less valuable, thus it has been damaged.

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Tommo_UK wrote:
Wow - thus far they haven't even reported any ill-gotten gains yet from any supposed stock options manipulation, and the lawsuits are already flying! Incredible.

Terrin, thanks for taking the time to shed some legal insight; I wish the financial press were as diligent at reporting the facts