Chimicles & Tikellis LLP, Labaton Sucharow LLP, Chitwood Harley Harnes LLP Announce... -- HAVERFORD, Pa., Feb. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED, pursuant to an Order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (the "Court"), that Plaintiffs in the above-captioned actions (the "Actions") have reached proposed settlements of the Actions with Defendants (the "Settlements") for $7.5 million in cash, $4.9 million for the Wells Action and $2.6 million for the Piedmont Action. In August and September 2012, the Court entered judgments dismissing the Actions in their entirety and Plaintiffs filed notices to appeal the judgments. Thereafter, after a mediation with a neutral mediator, the parties entered into proposed Settlements that will resolve all claims asserted in the Actions and will dismiss the appeals with prejudice. A settlement hearing will be held on April 18, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. before the Hon. Charles A. Pannell at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, 75 Spring Street, S.W., Courtroom 2307, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, to determine, among other things: (i) whether to, in the Piedmont Action, certify permanently for settlement purposes the Tender Offer and Proxy Classes; (ii) whether the proposed Settlements should be approved as fair, reasonable, and adequate; (iii) whether the Actions should be dismissed with prejudice against Defendants, and the releases specified and described in the Stipulations should be granted; (iv) whether the proposed Plan of Allocation should be approved as fair and reasonable; and (v) whether Co-Lead Counsel's application for attorneys' fees and reimbursement of expenses should be approved. If you have not yet received the full printed Notice of Proposed Settlements of Class Actions (the "Notice"), and the Proof of Claim form (the "Claim Form"), you may obtain copies of these documents by contacting In Re Wells and Piedmont Securities Litigations, c/o Heffler Claims Administration, PO Box 470, Philadelphia, PA 19105, 800-379-6239, or downloading them from a website maintained by the Claims Administrator: www.Wells.HRSClaims.com. If you are a member of one or more of the Classes, in order to be eligible to receive a payment under the proposed Settlements, you MUST submit a Claim Form postmarked no later than June 1, 2013. If you are a Class Member and do not submit a proper Claim Form, you WILL NOT share in the distribution of the net proceeds of the Settlements but you will nevertheless be bound by any judgments or orders entered by the Court in the Actions. Any objections to the proposed Settlements, the proposed Plan of Allocation, and/or Counsel's application for attorneys' fees and reimbursement of expenses, must be filed with the Court and delivered to counsel such that they are received no later than April 4, 2013. Members of the Tender Offer and Proxy Classes have the right to request exclusion (or "opt-out") from either or both of those Classes by submitting a written request for exclusion to the Claims Administrator and Counsel, such that the request is received no later than April 4, 2013. Any objections and requests for exclusion MUST be done in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice. The time to opt-out of the Wells Class has passed. Inquiries, other than requests for the Notice, may be made to any of the following Co-Lead Counsel: Kimberly M. Donaldson, Esq. Chimicles & Tikellis LLP 361 West Lancaster Avenue Haverford, PA 19041 Phone: (610) 642-8500 Website: www.chimicles.com Lawrence A. Sucharow, Esq. Labaton Sucharow LLP 140 Broadway New York, NY 10005 Phone: (212) 907-0700 Website: www.labaton.com Krissi T. Gore, Esq. Chitwood Harley Harnes LLP 2300 Promenade II 1230 Peachtree Street NE Atlanta, GA 30309 Phone: (404) 873-3900 Website: www.chitwoodlaw.com SOURCE Chimicles & Tikellis LLP; Labaton Sucharow LLP; Chitwood Harley Harnes LLP RELATED LINKS http://www.chimicles.com http://www.labaton.com http://www.chitwoodlaw.com