Overstock.com: Nothing New in Gradient Cross-Claims; Rocker/Gradient Litigation on Track for Trial

    SALT LAKE CITY, April 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Overstock.com, Inc.
 (Nasdaq:   OSTK) today announced it intends to file a demurrer (dismissal) to
 claims recently filed by Gradient Analytics in Overstock.com et al. v.
 Gradient Analytics et al. "We didn't oppose Gradient's request to file this
 because we know we can beat it. To date we have defeated every effort
 Gradient and Rocker Partners have made to avoid trial on the merits, and
 now at the eleventh hour, Gradient wants to launch its last remaining legal
 smoke screen," said Jonathan Johnson, Overstock.com's chief legal officer.
 "As we have previously, we will simply turn on the fans and blow that smoke
 right back at them." Johnson observed that several of the claims appear to
 be beyond the statute of limitations, and the others simply are not
 justified for other legal and factual reasons.
 
     Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne added, "This lawsuit is an attempt by
 Gradient to distract attention from their failing business model. Besides,
 my criticisms of Gradient are protected by the First Amendment."
 
     In a battle now more than two and a half years along, checkered with
 failed attempts by Gradient and Rocker Partners to avoid trial,
 Overstock.com continues to pursue defendants for libel, unfair business
 practices and tortuous interference. The trial court and the California
 Court of Appeals denied both Gradient's and Rocker's early exit bids,
 finding the case legally sufficient to take to trial. The California
 Supreme Court impliedly endorsed those decisions when it declined Gradient
 and Rocker's arguments that the trial and appellate courts were in error.
 
     In an apparent last ditch effort, Gradient filed cross-claims on April
 14, essentially claiming that Overstock.com and Patrick Byrne,
 Overstock.com's chairman and CEO, have publicized and discussed openly the
 allegations of the Overstock.com complaint. The Overstock.com complaint
 presents serious allegations that during 2004 and 2005, Gradient, holding
 itself out as an investment analyst, and Rocker Partners, a well-known
 short-selling hedge fund, worked in concert to publicize Gradient reports
 on Overstock.com containing false statements in order to drive down the
 Overstock.com share price so that Rocker Partners could profit from its
 short positions in the stock.
 
     Overstock.com's complaint is supported by sworn declarations from four
 ex-Gradient employees who assert that the Gradient business model allowed
 short selling hedge fund subscribers to pay up to $40,000 for negative
 special reports which were then released to other Gradient subscribers and
 the media. Several of the declarations assert that Gradient actually
 allowed the hedge funds' editorial input into the report content, and
 provided advance notice of the report content to the paying subscriber
 hedge fund, and that Gradient would withhold publication for a period of
 time, allowing the subscriber hedge fund to position its portfolio to
 profit from the report's release and negative stock price consequence.
 
     "Ultimately, truth is a defense to Gradient's cross-claims. We have
 maintained all along that our allegations are true and fully supported by
 substantial evidence," said Byrne. He added, "It's hard to think that for
 more than two years they have been running from this fight, that these
 claims could not have surfaced sooner, and so this desperate launch of
 cross claims cannot be seen as anything other than another effort at delay,
 delay, delay. I will not give up. We are going to prove this case to a
 jury."
 
     Among the most surprising of the contents of the ex-Gradient employees
 statements concerned Gradient's practice of marketing its subscriptions to
 short-selling hedge funds by using a list called, "Blow-ups By Grade." This
 list was said to contain the names of companies whose stocks experienced a
 sharp, sometimes one-day decline following the release of a negative
 Gradient report.
 
     Statements of the ex-Gradient employees can be viewed at:
 http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?page=staticpopupfull&sta_id=11151
 
     Trial of the case is now set for September 9, 2008.
 
     About Overstock.com
 
     Overstock.com, Inc. is an online "closeout" retailer offering discount,
 brand-name merchandise for sale over the Internet. The company offers its
 customers an opportunity to shop for bargains conveniently, while offering
 its suppliers an alternative inventory liquidation distribution channel.
 Overstock.com, headquartered in Salt Lake City, is a publicly traded
 company listed on the NASDAQ Global Market System and can be found online
 at http://www.overstock.com.
 
     Overstock.com is a registered trademark of Overstock.com, Inc. This
 press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the
 meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
 Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements include,
 but are not limited to, statements regarding moving to trial, the results
 of any trial or portion thereof, the strength of evidence of either side
 related to the litigation, as well as all such other risks as identified in
 our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, and all our subsequent
 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which contain and
 identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ
 materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking
 statements.
 
 
 

SOURCE Overstock.com