Smith Barney Lead Plaintiff Thrown Out, Never Owned Shares
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Citigroup Inc.’s Smith Barney unit can’t be sued by the union pension fund that’s the lead plaintiff in a six-year-old shareholder fraud class action because it never owned any of the shares that are the basis of the lawsuit, a judge said.
U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III in Manhattan, citing “epic failures” by the lawyers on both sides of the case, today dismissed Operating Local 649 Annuity Trust Fund from the suit. The pension fund’s attorneys told the judge that their client bought more than 75,000 shares of a similarly named security and not those involved in the case.