- Democrat and Chronicle

11/30/2011 - A Connecticut law firm that specializes in suing corporations for alleged securities fraud, consumer and antitrust issues is now suing contact lens maker Cooper Cos. regarding its recalls this year of its Avaira Toric and Avaira Sphere contact lenses.

The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that California-based Cooper downplayed the problems it was having with the contact lens lines and thus artificially inflated its stock value, causing investors big losses when those contact lens problems came to light.

The suit is seeking class action status to represent anyone who bought Cooper stock between March 4 and Nov. 15.

Cooper Cos. announced on Aug. 19 that its CooperVision eye-care subsidiary was recalling some of its Avaira Toric lenses. It expanded the recall on Nov. 15 to include some lots of its Avaira Sphere lenses. In both cases, according to Cooper, the problem was silicon oil residue on the lenses.

In the days prior to the first recall, Cooper shares had been trading at around $70. They temporarily fell to less than $67 before rebounding within days. But since Nov. 15, Cooper shares have been trading south of $60.

According to the lawsuit, filed by Scott + Scott LLP, Cooper executives including CEO Robert S. Weiss and CFO Eugene J. Midlock made millions of dollars in 2011 selling off some of their shares in the company even as they “were personally familiar with Cooper’s growing quality control problems” with the Avaira family of silicon hydrogel contact lenses. Yet at the same time, the company downplayed the August recall by boosting its stated expectations for its 2011 revenues, according to the suit.

The suit asks for unspecified damages.

Cooper did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment today.

The Avaira and Sphere lenses are made at CooperVision facilities in Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom.

CooperVision employs close to 1,100 in the Rochester area in contact lens manufacturing and distribution.

Cooper Vision Avaira Recall News Archive::