NEW YORK, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Dreier LLP (www.dreierllp.com) announces that a class action lawsuit was commenced in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina on behalf of investors who purchased Force Protection, Inc. ('Force Protection' or the 'Company') (Nasdaq: FRPT) common stock during the period from August 14, 2006 through February 29, 2008, inclusive (the 'Class Period'). The Complaint alleges that Force Protection and certain of the Company's officers and directors (collectively, the 'Defendants') violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

If you purchased Force Protection common stock during the Class Period, you may be a member of the proposed Class. You must move the Court on or before May 9, 2008 if you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff. Lead plaintiffs must meet certain legal requirements. If you purchased Force Protection common stock and want to discuss your legal rights, you may contact Bruce D. Bernstein (classlaw@dreierllp.com) of Dreier LLP at 800-952-8897. Class members may retain counsel of their choice and move the Court to serve as a lead plaintiff, or may choose to do nothing and remain absent class members.

Force Protection and its subsidiaries engage in the manufacture of ballistic and blast protected vehicles. The Company's products are used to protect personnel during transport, removal of unexploded ordnance, route clearance, humanitarian de-mining, and other missions that require protection from landmines and hostile fire.

The Complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Defendants misled investors by making materially false and misleading statements concerning Force Protection's business, financial results and prospects. Among other things, the Complaint alleges that Defendants failed to disclose that: (i) Force Protection's dominance in the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected ('MRAP') market was not a result of superior product design and rapid delivery rates, as the Company boasted, but was due to a lack of competitive bidding; (ii) due to Force Protection's continuing failure to meet contractual delivery deadlines, the Company's competitiveness in the market for MRAPs was diminished; (iii) Force Protection's ability to compete for government contracts was threatened by audit reports issued by the Defense Contract Audit Agency, which had been critical of the Company's finances and financial accounting system; and (iv) Force Protection falsely reported at least its third quarter 2007 financial results. As a result of Defendants' misleading statements, Force Protection common stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period.

On February 29, 2008, after the market closed, the Company announced it would have to delay the release of its 2007 Form 10-K and restate its Form 10- Q for the period ended September 30, 2007. As a direct and proximate result of this news, on March 3 the price of Force Protection stock declined $0.53 per share to close at $3.58 per share, a one day decline of 13%, on extremely high trading volume.

Dreier LLP's Class Action Litigation Group has vast experience representing domestic and foreign institutional and individual investors in securities and other class actions throughout the country. The partners who head Dreier LLP's Class Action Litigation Group have successfully prosecuted securities fraud class actions in a wide variety of industries and have played a significant role in cases that have resulted in some of the largest securities class action settlements. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. As of the date of this Notice, Dreier LLP has not filed a Complaint against Defendants.

Background on Dreier LLP

Dreier LLP was founded in 1996 by Marc Dreier as a more responsive and innovative alternative to traditional 'large-firm' lawyering. Dreier LLP represents a wide range of institutional, entrepreneurial and individual clients in diverse sectors of financial, industrial and service-oriented markets. The firm's principal practices are commercial litigation, class action litigation, real estate, bankruptcy and corporate reorganization, employment, corporate and securities, entertainment, intellectual property, matrimonial and tax. Dreier LLP's Los Angeles affiliate, Dreier Stein Kahan Browne Woods George LLP, has its principal practice in entertainment and commercial litigation and corporate transactions. The firm's New York affiliate Schlesinger Gannon & Lazetera LLP has an extensive practice in the area of trusts and estates law. Pitta & Dreier LLP is an affiliate which specializes in labor law, and Pitta, Bishop, Del Giorno & Dreier LLP specializes in government relations. In the 12 years since its founding, Dreier LLP, with its affiliate members, has grown to more than 200 attorneys, with its principal office at 499 Park Avenue in Manhattan, and additional offices in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California; Albany, New York; and Stamford, Connecticut.

SOURCE Dreier LLP

Source: PR Newswire (March 13, 2008 - 9:01 AM EDT)

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