HP Investor Revolt?

The backlash over Hewlett-Packard's decision to oust company CEO Mark Hurd has investors questioning the company's handling of the scandal.

During his tenure at HP, Hurd maintained tight management and aimed to focus the company's profit generating business. After the board's decision was made to remove Hurd as the CEO, HP stock took a heavy hit as a result of the uncertainly now hanging over the computer giant's future.

All-star trial lawyer Mark Lanier appeared on Varney & Company to debate the possibility of a shareholder lawsuit.

"If I were the lawyer and they approached me, I'd take a pass on this one," said Lanier. "I suspect the stock has gone down because of the uncertainty of the direction of the company now that you removed the CEO."

If stockholders do take up a lawsuit against the company, they aren't the only ones that disagree with the company's decision. Oracle CEO and Hurd's personal friend, Larry Ellison, had strong words for HP's ousting of their former Chief Executive. In an email to the New York Times, Ellison said that the HP board just "made the worst personnel decision since the idiots at Apple Board fired Steve Jobs many years ago" and called the move a "cowardly corporate political correctness."

Regardless of how a lawsuit will end up, Lanier explains that the outcome for HP will not have a large impact on business as a whole. "There are issues; there probably will be a lawsuit put of this. But even if it is a 5 or 10 million dollar lawsuit, that's not even a rounding error in light of a 30 billion revenue company."