Law firm drops request for temporary restraining order against Willamette

PORTLAND, OREGON - In a brief flurry of legal papers, a law firm representing shareholders of Willamette Industries Incorporated today filed and then withdrew a temporary restraining order request seeking to block a possible deal to buy a Georgia-Pacific Corporation division. <br> <br> U.S. District Judge Anna Brown had scheduled a hearing tomorrow on the injunction request filed by the San Diego office of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes and Lerach, a law firm that specializes in shareholder class-action suits. <br> <br> But by lunch time Wednesday, the request had been withdrawn, according to a court clerk. <br> <br> Willamette is battling a six billion hostile takeover bid by rival Weyerhaeuser Company that began in November 2000. <br> <br> Weyerhaeuser Chairman Steven Rogel, who left the top job at Willamette in 1997, has said any deal with Georgia-Pacific would end the takeover bid. <br> <br> Calls to the lawyer handling the case were not immediately returned. <br> <br> But the firm said in a prepared statement that it filed the injunction request to temporarily prevent the Willamette board of directors and anyone acting in concert with them from entering into a business combination with Georgia-Pacific. <br> <br> Documents filed in support of the request included a solicitation and recommendation statement Willamette filed November 27 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. <br> <br> The statement, signed by Willamette CEO Duane McDougall, indicated that Willamette had outperformed Weyerhaeuser in a number of areas, including a better return on invested capital, average equity and average assets. <br> <br> The statement filed with the SEC also contained a hostile takeover update that accused Weyerhaeuser of dragging its feet and refusing to negotiate a higher price based on the comparative financial data.