In Re Cooper Securities Litigation

ORDER DENYING IN SUBSTANTIAL PART MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

INTRODUCTION

This case is a securities litigation involving the Cooper Companies (“Cooper”), a contact lens company, its individual officers and investors. Plaintiffs allege that both before and after Cooper acquired Ocular Sciences, Inc. (“Ocular”) in January of 2005, Cooper’s officers made several false statements to conceal problems that would affect its stock price. Plaintiffs allege that three categories of statements were false, namely, (1) statements concerning Ocular’s inventory strategy; (2) statements concerning Ocular and Cooper’s sales force integration; and (3) statements concerning the threat to Cooper’s business by Silicone Hydrogel lenses produced by competitors. Both Cooper and the individual officers move for summary judgment as to all claims. For the following reasons, the motion is DENIED in substantial part.

BACKGROUND

Cooper develops, manufactures and markets healthcare products through two subsidiaries, CooperSurgical and Cooper-Vision. (Pl.’s Corrected Response to Def.’s Stmt of Uncontroverted Facts (“Resp. UF”) No. 1.) CooperVision, which is the subsidiary at issue in this matter, is…