Declaration Of Helen J. Hodges In Support Of Lead Counsel's ...

Dismiss Based on Statute of Limitations Arguments (Docket No. 88 in Case No. H-02-3401), which
argued that plaintiffs’ claims were timely under the extended statute of imitations provided by the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
(h)
The Court ruled that Lehman Brothers’ motion was moot, because the Court
had granted preliminary approval to a proposed partial settlement with that defendant. See 2/16/05
Memorandum and Order of Partial Dismissal (Docket No. 146 in Case No. H-02-3401) at 5. As to
the other defendants, the Court ruled that all claims were barred by the statute of limitations. See id.
at 13-14.
VII.
DISCOVERY
112. While formal discovery was stayed by the PSLRA, as noted above we sought
hundreds of witness interviews, reviewed millions of pages of public documents and sought
documents from other litigation. Nothing came easy. After motion practice, the Court ordered
Enron to produce documents it had provided to the government. Months later, when Enron refused
to produce documents as ordered by the Court, we filed a motion to compel compliance with the
order to produce. The sureties objected to Enron producing certain documents. We had to obtain
Enron’s formal consent to allow AWSC to produce documents to us. When we sought access to
materials produced in the Enron bankruptcy pursuant to Bankruptcy Rule 2004, Judge Gonzalez
denied our request.
1. Lead Counsel Serves Document Production Requests on the
Financial Institutions and Seeks Other Relevant Documents
113. Before the Court’s December 2002 ruling on the financial institutions’ motions to
dismiss, in July 2002 Lead Counsel served its comprehensive document production requests on
defendants. The requests were prepared early on in the litigation to help speed the search for and
production of relevant evidence. The requests were prepared using, among other things, Lead
Counsel’s investigative materials, input from securities, accounting, banking, trading and energy
- 68 -