SALT LAKE CITY, July 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Overstock.com, Inc.
(Nasdaq: OSTK) announced today that the court in Overstock.com et al. v.
Gradient Analytics et al. ruled favorably on a demurrer brought by Overstock
Chairman & CEO Patrick Byrne, dismissing on statute of limitations grounds
three causes of action, which Gradient had asserted as counterclaims against
Byrne personally.
"The court wisely recognized that Gradient, having stalled for three
years, should not now be filing counterclaims outside of their statute of
limitations," said Byrne.
The court also restricted Gradient's fourth counterclaim for unfair
business practices, disallowing the possibility of money damages on that
claim, and limiting it only to possible injunctive relief if Gradient proves
the claim at trial. On the dismissed claims against Byrne, the court granted
Gradient leave to amend.
Jonathan Johnson, Overstock's SVP, Legal, said, "The defendants' eleventh
hour counter-offensive will not succeed. We are looking forward to our day in
court -- which is rapidly approaching." Overstock's claims against Gradient
and Copper River are now set for trial on April 27, 2009.
In August of 2005, based on the sworn statements of ex-Gradient employees,
Overstock filed its case against Gradient Analytics, Inc, and Copper River and
their respective principals, alleging a scheme by which Gradient Analytics
published false information supplied by Copper River about Overstock. At the
time, Gradient published a flurry of negative reports on Overstock, which the
California Court of Appeals referred to as "Carpet Bombing," all of which were
calculated, according to the complaint, to drive down the price of Overstock
shares so Copper River could profit from its short sales of Overstock's
shares. Substantially all the efforts of Gradient and Copper River to have
the case dismissed have been rejected by reviewing courts.
Statements of the ex-Gradient employees can be viewed at:
http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?page=staticpopupfull&sta_id=11151
About Overstock.com
Overstock.com, Inc. is an online retailer offering brand-name merchandise
at discount prices. The company offers its customers an opportunity to shop
for bargains conveniently, while offering its suppliers an alternative
inventory distribution channel. Overstock.com, headquartered in Salt Lake
City, is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ Global Market System
and can be found online at http://www.overstock.com.
Overstock.com(R) is a registered trademark of Overstock.com, Inc.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements include, but
are not limited to, statements regarding moving to trial, the results of any
trial or portion thereof, the strength of evidence of either side related to
the litigation, as well as all such other risks as identified in our Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2007, our subsequent quarterly reports on Form
10-Q, or any amendments thereto, and our other subsequent filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission identify important factors that could cause
our actual results to differ materially from those contained in our
projections, estimates or forward-looking statements.
SOURCE Overstock.com, Inc.
