Company and Case Information

Home

Index of Filings

News and Press Releases

Filings

Decisions

Settlements

Litigation Activity Indices

Top Ten List

Annual/Quarterly Updates

Clearinghouse Research

Articles & Papers

Search

Related Sites

About Us

Local Rules

Sponsors


Register


_______________
Copyright (c) 2001
Stanford Law School


Dynegy, Inc.
Summary: According to a press release dated July 13, 2005, on July 7, 2005, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas approved a deal reached in April requiring Dynegy to pay $468 million to settle a securities fraud class action suit surrounding the company's so-called "Project Alpha" transactions.

In a press release dated April 15, 2005, the University of California, lead plaintiff in a securities fraud class-action suit against Dynegy, said Friday it reached a $468 million settlement with the power generator and some of its former executives. The University claimed Dynegy (DYN) violated securities law by misleading investors in the way it accounted for Project Alpha, a $300 million financing scheme based on a series of natural gas trades that overstated the power generator's cash flow for most of 2001.

As part of the settlement, Dynegy agreed to appoint two plaintiff-nominated directors to help monitor corporate governance reforms put in place at the company. Dynegy said its director and officer insurance policies would cover $150 million of the settlement and another $68 million would come from a stock issue. Dynegy will also make cash payments of $250 million in two series: $175 million in the second quarter and another $75 million following federal court approval. Additionally, Dynegy agreed to pay $5 million in attorneys' fees and expenses related to derivative litigation.

The complaint charges Dynegy and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint alleges that Dynegy and its top officers inflated the price of the Company's stock in order to pursue an accelerated securities sale program. Defendants knew that concealing Dynegy's true vehicle, Project Alpha, for creating cash flow from operations and the true impact it would have on the Company provided the only way that they could foster the perception in the business community that Dynegy was not "Enron Corp.," i.e., the only way Dynegy could post the revenue and earnings per share growth claimed by defendants. Prior to the Class Period, the Individual Defendants realized that many of their complicated deals to generate reported net income did not generate cash flows. The defendants knew that investors would eventually discover this discrepancy and the Company's stock price would collapse. To prevent this, Dynegy classified what was essentially a loan from CitiGroup Inc. as an operating activity rather than as a financing activity as required by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The defendants' wrongful course of business (i) artificially inflated the price of Dynegy's stock during the Class Period; (ii) deceived the investing public, including plaintiff and other Class members, into acquiring Dynegy's securities at artificially inflated prices; (iii) allowed the Individual Defendants to extract millions of dollars in bonuses for creating the appearance of the Company's phenomenal cash flow from operations growth; and (iv) allowed Dynegy to sell nearly half a billion dollars of its own securities to the unsuspecting public.

INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION:
SIC Code: 1311
Sector: Energy
Industry: Oil & Gas Operations


COMPANY/ISSUER NAME: Dynegy, Inc.
COMPANY/ISSUER TICKER: DYN
COMPANY WEBSITE: http://www.dynegy.com/

FIRST IDENTIFIED COMPLAINT IN THE DATABASE
Pirelli Armstrong, et al. v. Dynegy, Inc., et al.
 COURT: S.D. Texas  DOCKET NUMBER: 02-CV-01571
 JUDGE NAME: Hon. Sim Lake
 DATE FILED: 4/26/2002  SOURCE: Business Wires
 CLASS PERIOD START: 4/17/2001  CLASS PERIOD END: 4/24/2002
 TYPE OF COMPLAINT: Complaint (Unamended and Unconsolidated)
 PLAINTIFF FIRMS NAMED IN COMPLAINT:
  • Abbey Gardy, LLP
      212 East 39th Street, New York, NY, 10016
       (voice) 212.889.3700, (fax) , info@abbeygardy.com
  • Alfred G. Yates, Jr. Law Firm
      429 Forbes Avenue, 519 Allegheny Building, Pittsburgh Av, PA, 15219
       (voice) 412.391.5164, (fax) ,
  • Berger & Montague PC
      1622 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19103
       (voice) 800.424.6690, (fax) 215.875.4604, investorprotect@bm.net
  • Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz LLP (New York, NY)
      10 E. 40th Street, 22nd Floor, New York, NY, 10016
       (voice) 800.217.1522, (fax) , info@bernlieb.com
  • Cauley Geller Bowman Coates & Rudman LLP (Little Rock, AR)
      P.O. Box 25438, Little Rock, AR, 72221-5438
       (voice) 501.312.8500, (fax) 501.312.8505,
  • Federman & Sherwood
      120 North Robinson, Suite 2720, Oklahoma City, OK, 73102
       (voice) 405-235-1560, (fax) , wfederman@aol.com
  • Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer, LLP (New York, NY)
      805 Third Avenue, 22nd Floor, New York, NY, 10022
       (voice) 212.687.1980, (fax) 212.687.7714, info@kaplanfox.com
  • Law Offices of Charles J. Piven, P.A.
      World Trade Center-Baltimore,401 East Pratt Suite 2525, Baltimore, MD, 21202
       (voice) 410.332.0030, (fax) , pivenlaw@erols.com
  • Law Offices of Marc S. Henzel
      335 Central Avenue, Lawrence, NY, 11559
       (voice) 516.374.0707, (fax) 516.295.3473, securitiesfraud@comcast.net
  • Leo W. Desmond
      2161 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, Suite 204, West Palm Beach, FL, 33409
       (voice) 561.712.8000, (fax) 561.712.8000, stocklaw@bellsouth.net
  • Mark McNair
      1919 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC, 20006
       (voice) 703.273.3070, (fax) , wmmcnair@justice4investors.com
  • Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP (New York, NY)
      One Pennsylvania Plaza, New York, NY, 10119-1065
       (voice) 212.594.5300, (fax) ,
  • Pomerantz Haudek Block Grossman & Gross LLP
      100 Park Avenue, 26th Floor, New York, NY, 10017-5516ven
       (voice) 212.661.1100, (fax) 212.661.8665, info@pomerantzlaw.com/
  • Rabin & Peckel LLP
      275 Madison Avenue, 34th Floor, New York, NY, 10016
       (voice) 212.682.1818, (fax) 212.682.1892, email@rabinlaw.com
  • Schiffrin & Barroway LLP
      3 Bala Plaza E, Bala Cynwyd, PA, 19004
       (voice) 610.667.7706, (fax) 610.667.7056, info@sbclasslaw.com
  • Stull, Stull & Brody (New York)
      6 East 45th Street, New York, NY, 10017
       (voice) 310.209.2468, (fax) 310.209.2087, SSBNY@aol.com
  • The Emerson Firm
      2228 Cottondale Avenue, Suite 100, Little Rock, AR, 72202
       (voice) 800.663.9817, (fax) 501.907.2556, epllp@emersonpoynter.com
  • Wechsler Harwood LLP
      488 Madison Avenue 8th Floor, New York, NY, 10022
       (voice) 212.935.7400, (fax) , info@whhf.com
  • Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP
      270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 10016
       (voice) 212.545.4600, (fax) 212.686.0114, newyork@whafh.com
  • Wolf Popper, LLP
      845 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10022-6689Ave
       (voice) 877.370.7703, (fax) 212.486.2093, IRRep@wolfpopper.com
    _____________________________________________
     TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAINTIFF FIRMS:  20

  •  DOCUMENTS FOR THE FIRST IDENTIFIED COMPLAINT
    Type:  Date on the document: 

    REFERENCE COMPLAINT
    In Re: Dynegy, Inc. Securities Litigation
     COURT: S.D. Texas  DOCKET NUMBER: 02-CV-01571
     JUDGE NAME: Hon. Sim Lake
     DATE FILED: 1/30/2004  SOURCE: Business Wires
     CLASS PERIOD START: 4/17/2001  CLASS PERIOD END: 4/24/2002
     TYPE OF COMPLAINT: Consolidated and/or Amended
     PLAINTIFF FIRMS NAMED IN COMPLAINT:
  • Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP (San Diego, CA)
      600 West Broadway, 1800 One America Plaza, San Diego, CA, 92101
       (voice) 800.449.4900, (fax) , support@milberg.com
    _____________________________________________
     TOTAL NUMBER OF PLAINTIFF FIRMS:  1

  •  DOCUMENTS FOR THE REFERENCE COMPLAINT
    Settlement Agreement With Defendant Arthur Andersen LLP
    Type: Settlement Date on the document: 03/10/2005
    Notice Of Proposed Settlement Of Class Action With Arthur Andersen LLP, And Of Settlement Fairness Hearing
    Type: Notice Date on the document: 03/11/2005
    Order Granting Preliminary Approval To Proposed Settlement And Form Of Notice, And Directing That Notice Be Sent To The Settlement Class
    Type: Order Date on the document: 03/11/2005
    Proof Of Claim And Release
    Type: Other Date on the document: 03/11/2005
    U.S. District Court Civil Docket
    Type: Docket Date on the document: 04/29/2005
    Order and Final Judgment
    Type: Order Date on the document: 07/08/2005
    Order
    Type: Order Date on the document: 3/10/2006
    US District Court Civil Docket
    Type: Docket Date on the document: 6/1/2006

     OTHER DOCUMENTS
    Class Action Complaint For Violations Of The Federal Securities Laws
    Case Name and/or Number: Oliver
    Type: Complaint Date on the document: 04/29/2002
    Class Action Complaint For Violations Of The Federal Securities Laws
    Case Name and/or Number: 021672
    Type: Complaint Date on the document: 05/03/2002
    Class Action Complaint for Violation of the Federal Securities Laws - Demand for Jury Trial
    Case Name and/or Number: Steven Baca, et al. v. Dynegy, Inc., et al.
    Type: Complaint Date on the document: 06/12/2002
    U.S. District Court Civil Docket
    Case Name and/or Number: Kaminsky, et al. v. Dynegy, Inc., et al.
    Type: Docket Date on the document: 6/28/2002

    WARNING AND DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY:
    The information included on this Web site, whether provided by personnel employed by Stanford Law School or by third parties, is provided for research and teaching purposes only. Neither Stanford University, Stanford Law School, nor any of their employees, agents, contractors, or affiliates warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information or analyses displayed herein, and we caution all readers that inclusion of any information on this site does not constitute an endorsement of the truthfulness or accuracy of that information. In particular, this Web site contains complaints and other documents filed in federal and state courts, which make allegations that may or may not be accurate. No reader should, on the basis of information contained in or referenced by this Web site, assume that any of these allegations are truthful.
    Go to Search  page | Go to Case Index  page | Back to Top