Louisiana School Employees' Retirement System Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Waste Management, Inc., According to Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP

Business Wire, August 23, 1999

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 23, 1999--

The following was released today by the law firm of Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger & Grossmann LLP:

The Louisiana School Employees' Retirement System (the "Fund") has filed a class action lawsuit against Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WMI), and certain of its officers and directors, according to its counsel Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP. The Fund expects to seek a lead plaintiff role in the class action, which is brought on behalf of all persons who purchased WMI common stock between February 25, 1999 and August 2, 1999 inclusive (the "Class Period").

The Fund alleges that WMI overstated its publicly reported financial results during the Class Period, and made numerous materially false and misleading statements concerning the Company's operating condition. The Complaint alleges that WMI improperly boosted its reported operating results by including in its net income tens of millions of dollars of one-time gains from non-operating items and retroactive accounting changes that should have been segregated and excluded from the Company's reported operating results. Indeed, on August 16, 1999, WMI admitted that it would restate its previously reported financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 1999 to reduce operating income before taxes by more than $30 million to correct the misstatements contained in the Company's Form 10-Q filed for the quarter. The Company further revealed that it also would revise its publicly reported results for its second quarter ended June 30, 1999, to eliminate millions of dollars that had been improperly included in WMI's net income before taxes, as alleged in the Complaint.

The Complaint further alleges that defendants engaged in this unlawful activity for the purpose of inflating the price of WMI common stock, so that they could profit from the sale of a substantial portion of their equity stake in the Company at artificially inflated prices. As detailed in the Fund's Complaint, certain of WMI's top officers and directors, including the individual defendants, sold over 1.3 million shares of WMI common stock during the Class Period, before the disclosure of the misstatements detailed above, in return for proceeds of nearly $72 million.

The Fund encourages institutional and individual investors who suffered significant losses on purchases of WMI common stock during the Class Period to join with it in this important litigation. If you wish to discuss this Action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests in connection therewith, please contact Douglas M. McKeige or Robert S. Gans, partners of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP at (800) 380-8496 or (212) 554-1400 or by E-mail: Robert@blbglaw.com. If you wish detailed information about the firm, please visit our website at http://www.blbglaw.com. Any motion to be appointed lead plaintiff in this action must be filed no later than September 7, 1999.

The Louisiana School Employees' Retirement System is a pension fund and institutional investor with assets of approximately $1.4 billion that exists for the benefit of the employees of the State of Louisiana public schools. The Fund is represented by the law firm of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP, which has extensive experience in prosecuting class actions nationwide on behalf of defrauded investors. The firm currently plays a leading role in numerous major securities and complex commercial litigations pending in federal and state courts.