Louisiana Teachers' Retirement System, Baton Rouge, reached a proposed $25 million settlement with FirstEnergy Corp. of a lawsuit that claimed the utility misled investors, said Blair Nicholas, attorney with Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, which represents the $11.6 billion pension fund. FirstEnergy agreed to keep or adopt corporate governance practices including separating its CEO and chairman posts and naming a chief ethics officer, according to a news release from the pension fund.
The system, which holds roughly $5.9 million in FirstEnergy stock, filed suit in September 2003 claiming FirstEnergy misled investors about losses resulting from the shutdown of a nuclear power plant and the 2003 Northeast blackout.
Ellen Raines, FirstEnergy spokeswoman, said the utility expects the proposed settlement to be approved by the U.S. District Court in Akron, Ohio, by the end of the year. The firm did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, according to a FirstEnergy news release.
