Shareholder lawsuits
Since November 2017, several putative class actions under the federal securities laws have been filed against GE and certain affiliated individuals. All of those actions filed to date have been consolidated into a single action currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Hachem v. GE et al.). In May 2018, the court appointed Sjunde AP-Fonden (AP7) as Lead Plaintiff and Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP as Lead Counsel for the consolidated shareholder actions. In October 2018, AP7 filed a Fourth Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint naming as defendants GE, Jeffrey R. Immelt, Jeffrey S. Bornstein, Jamie S. Miller, Keith S. Sherin, Jan R. Hauser and Richard A. Laxer. It alleges violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 related to insurance reserves and accounting for long-term service agreements and seeks damages on behalf of shareowners who acquired GE stock between February 27, 2013 and January 23, 2018. GE has filed a motion to dismiss on behalf of all defendants, and briefing on that motion concluded in October 2018.
Since February 2018, six shareholder derivative lawsuits have also been filed against current and former GE executive officers and members of GE’s Board of Directors and GE (as nominal defendant). Two of the lawsuits (consolidated as the Gammel case) were filed in New York state court, one lawsuit (the Bennett case) was filed in Massachusetts state court and three lawsuits (consolidated as the Raul case) were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuits allege violations of securities laws, breaches of fiduciary duties, unjust enrichment, waste of corporate assets, abuse of control and gross mismanagement. The allegations relate to substantially the same facts as those underlying the securities class actions described above, as well as the
oversight of past GE practices regarding the use of its corporate aircraft. The Bennett complaint also includes a claim for professional negligence and accounting malpractice against GE’s auditor, KPMG. The plaintiffs seek unspecified damages and improvements in GE’s corporate governance and internal procedures. In June and October 2018, respectively, GE filed a motion to dismiss the Gammel case on behalf of all defendants, and the plaintiffs in the Raul case agreed to the dismissal of that case. The Bennett case has been stayed pending resolution of the motion to dismiss in the Gammel case.
In June 2018, an additional lawsuit (the Bezio case) was filed in New York state court derivatively on behalf of participants in the GE Retirement Savings Plan (the GE RSP), and alternatively as a class action on behalf of shareowners who acquired GE stock between February 26, 2013 and January 24, 2018, alleging violations of Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 based on alleged misstatements and omissions related to insurance reserves and performance of GE’s business segments in a GE RSP registration statement and documents incorporated therein by reference. In October 2018, GE filed a motion to dismiss. In July 2018, an additional putative class action (the Mahar case) was filed in New York state court naming as defendants GE, Jeffrey R. Immelt, Jeffrey S. Bornstein, Jan R. Hauser, John L. Flannery, Douglas A. Warner III and KPMG. It alleges violations of Sections 11, 12 and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 based on alleged misstatements related to insurance reserves and performance of GE’s business segments in GE Stock Direct Plan registration statements and
documents incorporated therein by reference and seeks damages on behalf of shareowners who acquired GE stock between July 20, 2015 and July 19, 2018 through the GE Stock Direct Plan. In October 2018, GE filed a motion to dismiss on behalf of all defendants.
On November 2, 2015, we acquired the Thermal, Renewables and Grid businesses from Alstom. Prior to the acquisition, the seller was the subject of two significant cases involving anti-competitive activities and improper payments: (1) in January 2007, Alstom was fined €65 million by the
European Commission for participating in a gas insulated switchgear cartel that operated from 1988 to 2004 (that fine was later reduced to €59 million ), and (2) in December 2014, Alstom pled guilty in the United States to multiple violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and paid a criminal penalty of $772 million . As part of GE’s accounting for the acquisition, we established a reserve amounting to $858 million for legal and compliance matters related to the legacy business practices that were the subject of these and related cases in various jurisdictions. At September 30, 2018, this reserve balance was $913 million . The increase is primarily driven by foreign currency movements.