Icahn Sues Motorola to Get Access to Documents

Investor Carl Icahn said on Monday he is suing Motorola (NYSE: MOT) to force it to hand over documents related to its mobile devices business, and he urged investors to elect his slate of candidates to the Motorola board.

“Over the past 12 months, the statements and predictions of Motorola’s management and the board about mobile devices business have too often proven to be wrong,” Icahn wrote in a letter to Motorola shareholders.

“We want to ascertain what the board could have done in the exercise of its fiduciary duty to assure Motorola stockholders that Motorola’s statements and predictions were not incorrect.”

The Icahn Group, which is filing the lawsuit in the Delaware chancery court, wants documents about the mobile devices business, as well as records on corporate aircraft use by senior management, the boards and their families.

“We demanded these materials for the purposes of enabling us to investigate whether and to what extent the board of directors of Motorola failed in their duties as directors in supervising management and setting policy and direction of Motorola,” Icahn wrote.

Icahn said he plans to share the information with Motorola’s stockholders but added that Motorola has said it will not comply. A Motorola spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.

Motorola shares rose 31 cents, or 3.35 percent, to $9.56 on the New York Stock Exchange.