Amid the growing pile of derivative lawsuits stemming from the stock option backdating scandal, the latest complaint filed Wednesday against Novell Inc. takes particular aim not just at grants to executives, but to board members as well.
The complaint focuses on options Novell board members gave themselves in October 1999, which came in addition to their regularly scheduled options. The “strike price” of the grants was a 17-month low. Filed by San Diego’s Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, the suit also accuses the current top managers and board of directors and former CEO and chief financial officer of fraudulent accounting from 1999 to 2006.
