Court Dismisses Securities Fraud Complaint Against Faro, Amended Complaint Expected
LAKE MARY, Fla., Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FARO Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: FARO), the world market leader in portable computer-aided measurement arms and laser tracker sales, today announced that the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida has dismissed a class-action securities fraud complaint filed against the Company, with leave to file an amended complaint.
"We were hopeful that the court would rule in our favor, and we are pleased that it did," FARO President and CEO Jay Freeland said.
As previously disclosed by the Company, on May 16, 2006, a Consolidated Amended Class Action Complaint was filed against FARO, certain FARO officers, and the Company's independent registered public accounting firm, asserting purported claims under the federal securities laws. FARO filed a Motion to Dismiss the Complaint, and the plaintiff's counsel opposed the motion.
On January 12, 2007, an U.S. magistrate judge issued a Report and Recommendation that the Complaint be dismissed, as against all defendants, with leave to re-plead. As to FARO and the individual defendants, the Report and Recommendation primarily was based on the magistrate judge's findings that the Complaint failed to adequately allege: (i) scienter (i.e., intentionally fraudulent or severely reckless conduct) with respect to certain claims; and (ii) that certain supposed misrepresentations or omissions actually caused economic loss. On February 3, 2007, the Court adopted the Report and Recommendation, and set a February 22, 2007 deadline for the plaintiff to file a Second Amended Complaint to attempt to state claims "in a fashion sufficient to establish each claim".
"We hold strong in our assertion that the material allegations made by the plaintiff are without merit," Freeland said. "As such, we will continue to vigorously defend our position."
About FARO
With more than 13,000 installations and 5,700 customers globally, FARO Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, and markets portable, computerized measurement devices and software used to create digital models - or to perform evaluations against an existing model - for anything requiring highly detailed 3-D measurements, including part and assembly inspection, factory planning and asset documentation, as well as specialized applications ranging from surveying, recreating accident sites and crime scenes to digitally preserving historical sites.
FARO's technology increases productivity by dramatically reducing the amount of on-site measuring time, and the various industry-specific software packages enable users to process and present their results quickly and more effectively.
Principal products include the world's best-selling portable measurement arm - the FaroArm; the world's best-selling laser tracker - the FARO Laser Tracker X and Xi; the FARO Laser ScanArm; FARO Laser Scanner LS; the FARO Gage, Gage-PLUS and PowerGAGE; and the CAM2 family of advanced CAD-based measurement and reporting software. FARO Technologies is ISO-9001 certified and ISO-17025 laboratory registered.
Learn more at www.faro.com
SOURCE
FARO Technologies, Inc.
CONTACT:
Darin Sahler, Global PR Manager, of FARO Technologies, Inc.,
+1-407-333-9911, or Darin.Sahler@faro.com