PORTLAND, Ore. (Legal Newsline) – Being third on the scene won’t prevent Grant & Eisenhofer from leading securities class action litigation against Portland General Electric.
Judge Michael Simon granted the firm’s request to be appointed lead counsel on Nov. 10, noting it was the only firm to ask to do so. Grant & Eisenhofer and Stoll Berne are representing the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi.
Simon’s order makes Stoll Berne the liaison counsel for the class and consolidates two pending lawsuits. The first-filed case was voluntarily dismissed already.
Mississippi PERS’s case was filed Nov. 2, almost two months after attorneys at Black Helterline and The Rosen Law Firm filed theirs.
“The longer Class Period alleged by Mississippi PERS, which made considerable investments during both the Class Period and the Shorter Class Period and suffered substantial losses thereon, reflected a careful analysis of the claims in the Hessel and the Cannataro complaints and of Defendants’ earlier public statements concerning the subject matter of those complaints,” the motion for appointment says.
PGE announced a $128 million loss on Aug. 24 while placing two unnamed employees on administrative leave and creating a committee to review its energy trading practices. The news caused its stock price to fall by nearly 8% and wiped out more than $300 million in shareholder value, the lawsuit alleges.
Mississippi PERS has the largest financial interest and should be lead plaintiff, Grant & Eisenhofer argued. It says it lost more than $2.3 million on its investment.