Lawsuit Filed By Chimicles & Tikellis to Stop Indemnification of CommonWealth REIT's Trustees and Management

BOSTON, Jan. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Chimicles & Tikellis LLP and Shapiro Haber & Urmy LLP today announced that on January 24, 2014, public pension fund Delaware County Employees Retirement Fund and investor Edmund Sweeney filed a derivative action in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts on behalf of Massachusetts-based nominal defendant CommonWealth REIT ("CWH") ("Action") against its co-founder Barry Portnoy and his son Adam Portnoy ("Portnoys"), and their wholly-owned entity Reit Management & Research, LLC ("RMR"), and certain other former and current officers and trustees of CWH (collectively, "Defendants"). CWH is a public real estate investment trust that owns and operates office and industrial buildings and leased industrial land worth nearly $7 billion.

In the Action, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants caused CWH to indemnify and advance certain legal fees and costs to Defendants in connection with an arbitration proceeding and other civil actions initiated by CWH shareholders.  Plaintiffs assert that because of Defendants' misconduct and breaches of fiduciary duties, which are the subject of the shareholder actions, Defendants are not entitled to indemnification and/or the advancement of their legal fees and costs under CWH's Declaration of Trust.  In the Action, Plaintiffs seek to permanently enjoin Defendants from obtaining any further indemnification or advancement of costs, and to require that Defendants reimburse CWH for all such fees and costs improperly paid, including the more than $30 million spent by CWH in connection with the arbitration proceeding.

If you are interested in discussing your rights as a CWH shareholder, have information relating to the matter, or wish to learn more about this Action, please contact Plaintiffs' counsel: 

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Nicholas E. Chimicles
Kimberly Donaldson Smith ([email protected])
Catherine Pratsinakis ([email protected])

SOURCE Chimicles & Tikellis LLP