New York, Ohio Funds Take Lead in BP Class Action

(December 29, 2010) – The state pension funds of New York and Ohio have been granted lead plaintiff status in a case against BP, as well as its major directors and executives.

In a Tuesday ruling, U.S District Judge Keith Ellison has named the New York State Comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, and Ohio’s Attorney General, Richard Cordray, the lead plaintiffs in the case. The case will cover investors who bought BP common shares or American depository receipts between 2005 and June, 2010, and who saw large losses in value of said shares after BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil-rig exploded in April.

The ruling also created a sub-class of claimants, led by four individual investors who bought common shares or depository receipts between March 2009 and April of this year and who argue that BP made misleading statements in the months before the accident. The larger class, led by New York and Ohio, make more general claims about fraudulent statements between 2005 and 2010 and about the purchase of depository receipts after the explosion.

This ruling is likely a victory for the funds, which had previously been reevaluating their legal standing after a Supreme Court decision limited the ability of investors in BP shares to bring suit. "We need to do additional analysis following the Supreme Court's ruling, but now it's just a question of how we'll best proceed," CRF spokesman Robert Whalen told aiCIO in June. "We're not rethinking - obviously we’re forced to reevaluate our legal strategy but our commitment to seeking remedy is unwavering