The plaintiff firms Labaton Sucharow and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd have secured a $265 million cash settlement in a securities fraud case relating to a 2010 explosion at a coal mine owned by Massey Energy Company.
The settlement, which requires approval from U.S. District Judge Irene Berger in Beckley, W.Va., would be distributed among a class of thousands of purchasers of Massey common stock, according to a press release issued by Labaton and Robbins Geller. Lead plaintiff Commonwealth of Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Board alleged that Massey and its officials hid safety violations and misled shareholders between February 2008 and May 2010 by touting its safety record. In April 2010, an explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch in West Virginia killed 29 miners.
