Law Firm Seeks To Halt HP-Compaq Merger Vote

Hewlett-Packard Co. Compaq Computer Corp.

The law firm Weiss and Yourman, seeking to represent HP investors as of January 28, claimed that certain unspecified information was omitted from solicitations to shareholders in violation of federal securities laws.

About 900,000 shareholders have been sent materials to vote on the deal by March 19.

Weiss and Yourman said in a statement the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and seeks to prevent a vote until HP recalculates the worth of the merger with Compaq and sends new information to shareholders.

Hewlett-Packard, which said it has asked the judge to throw out the lawsuit, disputed the law firm's claim that it had sought to stop the shareholder vote.

"The plaintiffs have not moved for a preliminary injunction to block the vote," an HP spokesperson said.

Instead, HP said the law firm asked the judge last week to speed up the case so it could obtain information from the computer company, but that the court denied the request.

"This suit appears to be a tactic to disrupt or to profit from a contested proxy contest," the spokesperson said.

Attorneys for Weiss and Yourman did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Copies of the court filings were not immediately available.

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