selection begins with a search of the Securities Class Action Clearinghouse web site for private securities
litigation between 1997 and 2005 .
Firm characteristics data is obtained from Compustat. Securities lawsuit
allegations data is from the Securities Class Action Clearinghouse web site. /. / Accordingly, 210 firms are deleted
from the sample because of unavailable CRSP, firm characteristics, lawsuit allegations
and CEO turnover data, resulting in a final sample of 93 firms.