Another lawsuit against Apple and Steve Jobs for options backdating has come to light, according to Bloomberg News on Saturday. This filing, under a secrecy seal, relies on a different strategy and goes directly after Steve Jobs and other members of Appleis board of directors to force them to testify under oath what they knew about the backdating. However, itis possible that the case will be dismissed soon because the matter was already settled by another court.
The lawsuit was filed by H. Adam Prussin and Joseph Tobacco, attorneys on behalf of the Boston Retirement Board. Mr. Prussin, in a phone interview with Bloomberg said that "We have details about the transactions involved that I donit think anyone else has."
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The complaint says that: "Rather than blame Jobs and or other members of current management, Apple has tried to shift all the blame to two former employees, former Chief Financial Officer Fred D. Anderson and former general counsel Nancy R. Heinen."
The case was filed in April and has just now come to additional light thanks to some recent document filings. It appears from the Santa Clara courtis agenda that Apple has filed for dismissal.
An attorney who follows these cases told TMO that "The lawsuit does have some risks of being dismissed on the grounds of res judicata on the grounds that the same parties have settled this matter between the same parties in another court." A similar case was heard in a New York court, filed by the New York City Employeesi Retirement System, and settled in 2007.
The new case was filed in April and has just now come to additional attention due to some document filings related to the case management and request for dismissal by Apple.
It is frowned up in the legal system to re-file cases that have already been settled in another jurisdiction.