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Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine...
DeWine Files
Complaint Against BP
April 19, 2012
Cleveland – Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit today in
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on behalf of four of the state’s
pension systems – the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS),
State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS), School Employees
Retirement System of Ohio (SERS) and the Ohio Police and Fire Pension
Fund (OP&F) - against BP and certain officers and directors and
subsidiaries.
The lawsuit claims that BP misrepresented information about its safety
practices and procedures before the Deepwater Horizon explosion in
April of 2010. The lawsuit also alleges that BP’s statements
regarding the size of the oil spill were knowingly false and misleading
when made.
“The BP Deepwater Horizon spill caused the tragic loss of life and
extensive environmental damage in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Attorney
General Mike DeWine. “Another result of this immense disaster was to
Ohio pension systems providing retirement benefits for current and
future retirees that invested in BP in good faith and were adversely
affected when their stock price plummeted.”
The complaint describes a lack of a sound and adequate safety plan that
multiple BP executives had assured the investing public would be put in
place as a result of a series of safety issues before the Deepwater
Horizon disaster.
Today’s state lawsuit comes two months after a Texas federal judge
dismissed certain claims involving ordinary shares purchases in
In re BP p.l.c. Securities Litigation, the ongoing class-action lawsuit
in which the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System continues to act
as co-lead plaintiff. The judge overseeing the federal lawsuit let
stand class claims involving purchases of BP’s New York-traded American
Depository Shares, but dismissed those involving BP ordinary shares as
not being covered by federal securities law. The new state
lawsuit relates to BP ordinary shares.
In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison cited Morrison v.
National Australia Bank, Ltd., a 2010 Supreme Court decision. The
Supreme Court’s decision, as construed by lower federal courts, has
effectively barred federal claims against foreign issuers on
non-U.S. stock purchases, no matter how significantly U.S. investors
were impacted by the fraud or where the fraudulent behavior took place.
“With this lawsuit, we will pursue claims under Ohio law on
behalf of Ohio’s teachers, school workers, first responders
and public service current and future retirees,” added Attorney General
Mike DeWine.
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