Class Action Suit Filed Against Oshkosh Corporation

September 26, 2008 • New York-based Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP announced last week that a class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of purchasers of Oshkosh Corp. common stock between Nov. 1, 2007, and June 25, 2008. Plaintiffs are seeking to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Oshkosh common stock during this period.

 

The complaint charges Oshkosh and certain officers and directors with SEC violations, alleging that during this period the company misled the investing public, thereby inflating the price of Oshkosh's common stock by publicly issuing materially false and misleading statements and omitting to disclose material facts necessary to make statements not false and misleading.

 

As alleged in the complaint, these statements and omissions failed to disclose the following adverse facts: Synergies related to Oshkosh's European facility rationalization program for its refuse business, the Geesink Norba Group, were lower and the cost of such rationalization was higher than represented; the value of Oshkosh's European refuse business was impaired and overstated and should have been written down; Oshkosh's JLG access equipment division was experiencing a dramatic decrease in demand; and as a result of the foregoing, Oshkosh lacked any reasonable basis to maintain its financial guidance for fiscal 2008.

 

Coughlin Stoia said that on June 26, 2008, Oshkosh announced that it was revising downwards the estimates for its third quarter and full fiscal 2008 financial results because of, among other things, the impairment of its goodwill associated with the company's European refuse collection vehicle manufacturer, the Geesink Norba Group. Following this disclosure, shares of Oshkosh common stock dropped 33 percent, to close at $22.29 per share.