Chimicles & Tikellis LLP, Labaton Sucharow LLP, Chitwood Harley Harnes LLP Announce Summary Notice Of Pendency And Proposed Settlements Of Class Actions And Settlement Hearing

HAVERFORD, Pa., Feb. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

SUMMARY NOTICE OF PENDENCY AND
PROPOSED SETTLEMENTS OF CLASS ACTIONS AND SETTLEMENT HEARING

TO ALL PERSONS AND ENTITIES WHO HELD SHARES OF PIEDMONT OFFICE REALTY TRUST, INC. (FORMERLY KNOWN AS WELLS REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST, INC.) COMMON STOCK (INCLUDING THEIR HEIRS, SUCCESSORS, AND ASSIGNS) AND:

(A) WERE ENTITLED TO VOTE ON THE PROPOSALS IN PIEDMONT'S FEBRUARY 26, 2007 PROXY SOLICITATION (the "WELLS CLASS" in the Wells Action);
(B) HELD PIEDMONT SHARES AT THE TIME OF THE TENDER OFFER BY LEX-WIN ACQUISITION LLC ("LEX-WIN") BETWEEN MAY 25, 2007 AND JULY 20, 2007, AND DID NOT TENDER THEIR SHARES TO LEX-WIN (the "TENDER OFFER CLASS" in the Piedmont Action); and/or
(C) WERE PIEDMONT SHAREHOLDERS OF RECORD AS OF OCTOBER 2, 2007, WHO WERE ENTITLED TO VOTE ON THE PROPOSALS IN PIEDMONT'S OCTOBER 16, 2007 PROXY SOLICITATION AS AMENDED (the "PROXY CLASS" in the Piedmont Action).

PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.  YOUR RIGHTS WILL BE AFFECTED BY THE PROPOSED SETTLEMENTS OF TWO CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS.

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED, pursuant to an Order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (the "Court"), that Plaintiffs in the above-captioned actions (the "Actions") have reached proposed settlements of the Actions with Defendants (the "Settlements") for $7.5 million in cash, $4.9 million for the Wells Action and $2.6 million for the Piedmont Action.  In August and September 2012, the Court entered judgments dismissing the Actions in their entirety and Plaintiffs filed notices to appeal the judgments.  Thereafter, after a mediation with a neutral mediator, the parties entered into proposed Settlements that will resolve all claims asserted in the Actions and will dismiss the appeals with prejudice.  A settlement hearing will be held on April 18, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. before the Hon. Charles A. Pannell at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, 75 Spring Street, S.W., Courtroom 2307, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, to determine, among other things: (i) whether to, in the Piedmont Action, certify permanently for settlement purposes the Tender Offer and Proxy Classes; (ii) whether the proposed Settlements should be approved as fair, reasonable, and adequate; (iii) whether the Actions should be dismissed with prejudice against Defendants, and the releases specified and described in the Stipulations should be granted; (iv) whether the proposed Plan of Allocation should be approved as fair and reasonable; and (v) whether Co-Lead Counsel's application for attorneys' fees and reimbursement of expenses should be approved.

IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF ANY OR ALL OF THE CLASSES, YOUR RIGHTS WILL BE AFFECTED BY THE PROPOSED SETTLEMENTS. IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF ANY OR ALL OF THE CLASSES, YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO SHARE IN THE SETTLEMENT FUNDS.  If you have not yet received the full printed Notice of Proposed Settlements of Class Actions (the "Notice"), and the Proof of Claim form (the "Claim Form"), you may obtain copies of these documents by contacting In Re Wells and Piedmont Securities Litigations, c/o Heffler Claims Administration, PO Box 470, Philadelphia, PA 19105, 800-379-6239, or downloading them from a website maintained by the Claims Administrator: www.Wells.HRSClaims.com.

If you are a member of one or more of the Classes, in order to be eligible to receive a payment under the proposed Settlements, you MUST submit a Claim Form postmarked no later than June 1, 2013. If you are a Class Member and do not submit a proper Claim Form, you WILL NOT share in the distribution of the net proceeds of the Settlements but you will nevertheless be bound by any judgments or orders entered by the Court in the Actions.

Any objections to the proposed Settlements, the proposed Plan of Allocation, and/or Counsel's application for attorneys' fees and reimbursement of expenses, must be filed with the Court and delivered to counsel such that they are received no later than April 4, 2013.  Members of the Tender Offer and Proxy Classes have the right to request exclusion (or "opt-out") from either or both of those Classes by submitting a written request for exclusion to the Claims Administrator and Counsel, such that the request is received no later than April 4, 2013.  Any objections and requests for exclusion MUST be done in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice.  The time to opt-out of the Wells Class has passed.

PLEASE DO NOT CALL OR WRITE THE COURT REGARDING THIS NOTICE. Inquiries, other than requests for the Notice, may be made to any of the following Co-Lead Counsel:

SOURCE Chimicles & Tikellis LLP; Labaton Sucharow LLP; Chitwood Harley Harnes LLP