NYCERS Joins LACERA, Others in Suit Against BP

(May 13, 2013) — New York City’s five pension funds have joined public retirement systems from Los Angeles, Connecticut, Colorado, and Philadelphia, among others, in pursuing a single court case against oil giant BP over alleged investment losses related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

A judicial panel has granted BP’s request to consolidate the New York case with others in a single suit (called ‘multidistrict litigation’) handled in Texas’ southern district court, aiCIO has learned. Judge Keith Ellison is presiding over the entire matter.   

New York City’s employee pension funds join their state and municipal counterparts in Connecticut, North Carolina, Colorado, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Diego, together attempting to recover alleged investment losses caused by the oil spill. 

“It’s obviously a big case, and part of a larger picture that has been playing out over the last few years,” Werner Kranenburg, a London-based attorney specializing in US securities and corporate litigation, told aiCIO.

New York’s funds alone peg their losses at upwards of $39 million, according to an estimate by the city comptroller’s office. As of April 13, the retirement system collectively owned a combined 2,822,840 shares in BP valued at $19.3 million. 

“It is supposed to be more efficient for BP and the court system, if not also the plaintiffs, to litigate American claims in one venue rather than all across the country although plaintiffs’ individual litigation strategies may dictate otherwise,” said Kranenburg, who also has experience with US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration.

“Aside from the assessment whether BP stands a better chance of winning in Texas than in another state, it doesn’t want to fight myriad similar cases in an equally large number of different courts.”

A spokesman for BP declined to comment on the case. 

Related article: NYC Pension Funds Sue BP to Recover Losses