SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt., March 3, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Johnson & Perkinson hereby announces the commencement of a class action lawsuit naming Levitt Corp. ("Levitt" or the "Company") (NYSE:LEV). Individuals, families, trusts or other entities that purchased common stock between January 31, 2007 and August 14, 2007, inclusive, have the opportunity to participate as Lead Plaintiffs in the currently pending class action litigation. To do so, however, you must apply for Lead Plaintiff status by March 25, 2008.
Johnson & Perkinson, a litigation boutique law firm based in South Burlington, Vermont, has extensive experience prosecuting investor class actions and actions involving financial fraud. Attorneys Johnson and Perkinson are both former employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Dedicated to maximizing shareholder return, members of Johnson & Perkinson have prosecuted complex class actions alleging securities or consumer fraud/deception on behalf of investors/consumers against numerous public companies since 1985, resulting in the recovery of many hundreds of millions of dollars, and have been singled out for excellence by various courts. The firm is litigating, or has recently resolved litigation, as Lead or Co-Lead Counsel in securities class actions against Xerox, Priceline, Wireless Facilities, i2 and Xchange, and serves on the Executive Committee in the Global Crossing case.
The Complaint alleges that Levitt and certain of its officers and directors violated federal securities laws. On January 31, 2007, Levitt announced a merger with BFC Financial Corp ("BFC"). Based on BFC stock's closing price on the previous trading day, the proposed transaction valued Levitt stock at $14.41 per share -- a premium of 32 percent over the closing price of $10.88 per share on the previous trading day. During the Class Period, Defendants failed to disclose the following: (i) that the Company's Levitt and Sons subsidiary was in worse financial condition than represented and was saddled with unneeded land which would not be feasible to develop for some time. Furthermore, Levitt and Sons was struggling to complete projects it had already begun and was often failing to complete construction of homes that it had already sold; (ii) Levitt was materially overstating its financial results because it was failing to timely record an impairment in the value of its homebuilding inventory at Levitt and Sons; (iii) Levitt's loans to Levitt and Sons would not be recovered; and (iv) that Levitt and Sons was insolvent. On August 15, 2007, Levitt announced that the merger agreement with BFC had been terminated. On this news, Levitt's stock fell $0.79 per share to close at $2.96 per share. Subsequently, on November 9, 2007, it was announced that Levitt and Sons filed for bankruptcy.
If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Johnson & Perkinson attorneys James F. Conway, III, Eben F. Duval, or Christopher Allen toll free at 1-888-459-7855; via email at email@jpclasslaw.com; through our website at www.jpclasslaw.com; or by mail at Johnson & Perkinson, 1690 Williston Road, P.O. Box 2305, South Burlington, Vermont 05403. Though Johnson & Perkinson has not filed a Complaint against Levitt at this time, attorneys at Johnson & Perkinson can investigate your potential claims and help you decide if seeking appointment as a Lead Plaintiff is right for you. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by your decision to not seek appointment as a Lead Plaintiff.