Notice: SCAC Restructuring

The Stanford Securities Class Action Clearinghouse (SCAC) is currently under construction and is temporarily unavailable as it undergoes updates and improvements. The Clearinghouse is expected to return as part of the Stanford Rock Center for Corporate Governance in Winter 2026.

During this period, updates and new filings will not be available.

For urgent inquiries, please contact rockprograms@law.stanford.edu.

Processing your request


please wait...

Case Page

 

Case Status:    DISMISSED  
—On or around 09/27/2024 (Court's order of dismissal)
Current/Last Presiding Judge:  
Hon. Aileen M. Cannon

Filing Date: May 26, 2023

According to the Complaint, NextEra Energy, Inc. is one of the largest power and utility holding companies in North America. NEE’s primary subsidiary is Florida Power and Light Co. (“FPL”), the largest vertically integrated regulated utility in Florida.

Beginning in December 2021, media outlets, including the Orlando Sentinel and Miami Herald, began reporting that FPL and political consulting firm, Matrix LLC had potentially violated state and federal campaign finance laws by using a network of nonprofits to steer funding to spoiler “ghost candidates” to derail the campaign efforts of unfriendly legislators seeking reelection to Florida state offices in 2020. Later reports alleged that FPL also spied on journalists following unsupportive reporting, improperly courted public officials with job offers while bidding to privatize certain public utilities, and FPL executives knowingly approved of Matrix’s dirty tricks to benefit the Company.

For more than a year, FPL denied these allegations, while executives and top corporate officers at NextEra falsely claimed that the alleged political misconduct orchestrated by FPL did not expose the Company to any meaningful legal or reputational risk based on an internal investigation. NextEra later acknowledged the opposite when FPL's President and CEO abruptly resigned, and the Company included a new risk disclosure in its SEC filings explicitly addressing the issue on January 25, 2023.

The Complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Defendants made or caused to be made a series of materially false and/or misleading statements about NEE’s business, prospects, and operations, and that these material misstatements and/or omissions created an unrealistically positive assessment of NEE and its business, operations, and prospects, thus causing the price of the Company’s securities to be artificially inflated at all relevant times, and when disclosed, negatively affected the value of the Company shares.

On June 5, 2023, the Court issued an Order dismissing the case without prejudice following a sua sponte review of the record. Plaintiff filed an amended Complaint on June 8.

The Court issued an Order appointing Lead Plaintiff and Counsel on October 26, 2023. Lead Plaintiff filed a second amended Complaint on December 1. Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss the second amended Complaint on January 12, 2024. On September 27, the Court issued an Order granting Defendants' Motion to Dismiss. The case was dismissed with prejudice.

Lead Plaintiff filed a notice appealing the Court's Dismissal Order on October 18, 2024.

Protected Content


Please Log In or Sign Up for a free account to access restricted features of the Clearinghouse website, including the Advanced Search form and the full case pages.

When you sign up, you will have the option to save your search queries performed on the Advanced Search form.