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Jury finds in favour of Kalkhoven and all defendants |
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Wednesday, 28 November 2007 |
The following is a media release issued on behalf of Champ Car World
Series co-owner, PKV Racing team owner and leading US-based businessman
Kevin Kalkhoven.
The 18th annual Gold Coast Indy 300 will be held on the streets of
Queensland’s Gold Coast from October 23-26 – it will be round 13 of the
14-round 2008 Champ Car World Series.
JURY FINDS IN FAVOR OF KALKHOVEN AND ALL DEFENDANTS
 INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana - After an unusually short deliberation, the
jury in the matter of JDS Uniphase Securities Litigation today has
found in favor of Kevin Kalkhoven and all other defendants.
Today’s verdict completely exonerates four senior officers of JDS
Uniphase, including Kalkhoven, who is a co-owner of the Champ Car World
Series, PKV Racing, Cosworth Engineering, the Long Beach Grand Prix and
the Toronto Grand Prix, of any wrong doing in the class action civil
lawsuit for monetary damages.
The suit, which was filed in March of 2002, went to trial on
October 23, 2007 in U.S. District Court in Oakland. Proceedings lasted
just over four weeks. Shareholder class-action suits are usually
settled out of court, however, Kalkhoven and the other three officers
chose to defend against the action, which they, correctly, believed had
no merit.
“After five years of examining every email and employee at JDS
Uniphase, plaintiffs could not lay a glove on Kevin Kalkhoven,” said
Kalkhoven’s attorney Michael Shepard, who works for the firm Heller
Ehrman in San Francisco.
“As I predicted in my opening statement, all the plaintiffs could
prove was that Mr. Kalkhoven is rich. We thank the jury for fairly
reviewing the facts and appreciating the complete lack of evidence in
the case.
“The trial proved that JDS Uniphase did great while Mr. Kalkhoven
was in charge and for a long time after. Today’s verdict completing
vindicates Mr. Kalkhoven and proves that he always acted honestly and
in good faith.”
JDS Uniphase, a fiber optics parts provider, was created by the
June 1999 merger between JDS Fitel, a Canadian telecommunications
equipment maker, and Silicon Valley-based Uniphase.
It quickly became a favorite on Wall Street and expanded through a
string of purchases before business began slowing in calendar 2001 when
business spending on telecommunications products stalled.
Kalkhoven, who was a part of the company for just three and a half
weeks during the period of time the alleged conduct that formed the
basis of suit occurred, stepped down as CEO in May 2000 when JDSU was
still growing.
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