Ohio AG Pursues State Securities Law Claims Against BP for Deepwater Horizon Disaster
Ohio AG Pursues State Securities Law Claims Against BP for Deepwater Horizon Disaster
By DEE MOORE
By DEE MOORE
(CN) - Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a complaint for "common law fraud and violations of the Ohio Securities Law" against BP Plc, also known as British Petroleum, on behalf of four state pension funds, claiming that the oil company gave false and misleading information to its investors. The pension funds were invested heavily in the oil company at the time of the infamous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."BP Exploration provided materially false and misleading filings to the Minerals Management Service ("MMS") during the Relevant Period that were disseminated into Ohio," the 196-page complaint states.
In a press release issued on April 19, DeWine said, "The BP Deepwater Horizon spill caused the tragic loss of life and extensive environmental damage in the Gulf of Mexico.
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."
DeWine alleges that the pension funds lost in the "tens of millions of dollars."
"As the truth regarding the lack of safety and integrity of BP's operations emerged . . . BP's ordinary shares plunged in value," the complaint states.
The suit was filed in Cuyahoga County's Common Pleas Court, naming the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, School Employees Retirement System of Ohio and the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund as plaintiffs in the case. These groups collectively represent over 1.6 million former and current state employees.
The complaint names as defendants BP Plc in London, BP America Inc., BP Exploration & Production Inc., former BP Plc CEO Anthony Hayward, former COO of BP Exploration & Production Doug Suttles and former BP Exploration & Production CEO Andrew Inglis.
"The Company highlighted the safety and success of its operations in the Gulf of Mexico, emphasizing the fact that it was one of the largest deepwater operators in the world. At the same time BP failed to disclose that it: had not implemented safety measures for its Gulf of Mexico operations; had disregarded safety warnings about its operations; and lacked robust risk management processes, which left the Company dangerously exposed to a catastrophic accident," the complaint states.
The lawsuit also alleges BP's statements regarding the size of the oil spill were knowingly false and misleading. Besides the loss of life and extensive environmental damage caused by the spill, the disaster hurt Ohio's pension systems that had "invested in BP in good faith and were adversely affected when (its) stock price plummeted," DeWine said in the release.
The complaint cites an alleged lack of a sound and adequate safety plan that multiple BP executives had assured investors would be put in place as a result of a series of safety issues before the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
This isn't the first lawsuit the AG has filed against BP. DeWine filed a class action lawsuit against the company in January 2011 in the U.S. District Court in Houston. The city is the site of the central offices of BP America Inc. and BP Exploration & Production, both of which are Delaware corporations.
The lawsuit was filed two months after a Texas federal judge dismissed claims involving ordinary shares purchases in BP Plc.
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, the press release states.
"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.
http://www.cnssecuritieslaw.com/2012/04/26/310.htm
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