Chicago, IL: (Jul-20-07) A class action lawsuit was filed against eCollege.com, a provider of value-added eLearning services to post-secondary education, and other defendants, alleging violation of fiduciary duties owed to shareholders of eCollege by its directors, with regard to the company's recent merger agreement with Pearson Education and Epsilon Acquisition Corp.
In a settlement reached, eCollege agreed to pay $300,000 to resolve litigation. The settlement is expected to resolve all of the claims and future claims on behalf of the settlement class in the lawsuit that is being settled. The anticipated settlement includes all of the claims in connection with the merger, the merger agreement, the value received in the merger and any disclosure made with regard to it. eCollege and the other defendants deny all of the allegations in the lawsuit, including any allegation that its current disclosures with regard to the pending merger are misleading or incomplete in any way. Nevertheless, without admitting any liability or wrongdoing, eCollege and the other defendants in this case have agreed in principle to settle the case in order to avoid the potential cost and distraction of continued litigation and to eliminate any risk of any delay to the closing of the merger posed by this lawsuit. [
