Benefits December 18, 2007

Morgan Stanley Target of Stock Drop Lawsuit

December 18, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A New York law firm has filed a lawsuit against Morgan Stanley and its 401(k) plan fiduciaries charging that participants were improperly allowed to continue investing in company stock.
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A news release from the Stull, Stull & Brody firm said its suit, which seeks class action status under theEmployee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) , is filed on behalf of 401(k) participants who were in the Morgan Stanley Stock Fund investment option.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that the defendants allowed plan participants to invest in company stock while they knew, or should have known, that the stock was an imprudent investment.

More information is at www.ssbny.com .

Second Suit

On December 14, 2007, Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP filed a class action lawsuit (Egan v. Morgan Stanley & Co., et al.) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, on behalf of all participants and beneficiaries of the Morgan Stanley 401(K) Plan from December 1, 2005 to present, whose accounts included investments in the stock of Morgan Stanley. That suit named as defendants Morgan Stanley, Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., certain officers and directors of Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., the Global Director of Human Resources of Morgan Stanley, and the Investment Committee of the Morgan Stanley 401(K) Plan.

A copy of the Complaint is available online HERE

Chief Executive Officer John Mack has announced several top-level reorganizations in the wake of the firm’s recent volatility as a result of the mortgage crisis. The firm disclosed $3.7 billion in mortgage-related write-downs earlier this year.

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