Law firm Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins has filed a class action suit against health benefit company WellPoint in the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on behalf of purchasers of the company's stock during the period between January 23, 2008 and March 10, 2008.
The complaint charges WellPoint and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint alleges that during the class period, defendants made false and misleading statements and failed to disclose material facts concerning WellPoint’s medical costs and medical enrollment levels.
In addition, the complaint alleges that defendants misled the market by issuing false and misleading earnings guidance.
When defendants disclosed the truth to the market on March 10, 2008, the price of WellPoint’s common stock dropped 28.3% to close at $47.26 per share, on volume of more than 54 million shares traded, many times the average daily trading volume for WellPoint common stock.