So I could start my morning by pulling the plug;
New York City’s pension funds, among the largest in the country, have brought a suit against BP PLC claiming their members lost $39 million as a result of BP’s actions before and after the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
In a 237-page complaint, the pension funds allege their investments in BP were made at “artificially inflated” prices because the company exaggerated its ability to work safely in the Gulf.
h/t Adrian
N.Y. taxpayers should sue the Pension Plan & its Members for running a ponzi scheme.
San Francisco Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement Takes Its First Steps Against Big Oil
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday urging managers of the city’s public employee retirement system to withdraw the approximately $580 million they have invested in major fossil fuel producers.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/san-francisco-fossil-fuel-divestment_n_3158012.html
The American courtroom has become the same kind of betting parlor that is the stock market.
The guys who do the most homework in both usually win.
Gee, you’d think all these pension plan contributors would be suing their smart financial advsors for not doing due diligence and determining beforehand that BP was risky.
On a similar note, I love how the taxpayers have to make up the difference in pension shortfalls because of bad investments, but we don’t get to share in the profits of any of the good ones.
I have no actual -knowledge- of the state of the NYC pension fund’s books, but given the way muni bonds and other debt instruments have been crashing, I’m thinking the pension fund may be in some serious trouble right about now. A couple billion bucks from a lawsuit might go some way to covering the red ink they must be staring at rit about now.
The days are over where a judge will laugh something like this off his docket. They might actually win. Barf.
To most, investing in the stock market contains a degree of risk but to the left it must contain a 100% degree of guaranteed sucess, aaahh if only we could all live in utopia.
Me I wish I ran all the government pension funds in the world, so I could liquidate them and send long-suffering taxpayers a cheque. We need oil. We don’t need fat, lazy government employees unemployable at anything resembling an honest trade.
Socialists and the justice cabal are bend on destroying free enterprise.
One can wonders what is it they don’t get about the saying, ….killing the goose laying the golden egg.
Where it is that they think they get the loot from that they get.
Seems that the lawyers greed has no boundaries.
“City employees, teachers, police, firefighters, and the board of education.” and
other coddled overpaid thugs want our money! Gimmie, gimmie or I’ll cry.
Great idea! I will start preparing my case against BCE as I was led to believe the TO Laffers would be serious CUP contenders.
Who is John Gault?
I saw a show on the BP blow out and the same question came to mind as when it first happened. How do you expect to put out an oil/gas fire by using water. Did the Deep water Horizon sink because of all the water that was sprayed on it? If they had put the fire out there would not have been a disaster.It was the sinking of the platform that created all the problems.
Galt, not Gault.
A couple of points. First, unless the fund managers dumped the BP stock when it tanked after the disaster, they didn’t lose money, they lost value. Value which will ultimately be recouped when BP gets their ducks in a row again. “Buy high, sell low” is not how to manage a pension fund.
Second, if the lawsuit is successful, it will have a further impact on the value of BP stock, and may adversely affect the value of other stocks in the fund’s portfolio if the marketplace finds them to be at risk of similar predatory lawsuits. It’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
BP’s biggest mistake was in not pumping thousands of mulched-up lawyers down the annulus to kill the well.
This is why the world has *far* too many lawyers. There are a few good ones out there, but most of them are parasites.
Drilling for oil is dangerous, as is mining coal. Accidents occasionally happen. Deal with it.
Why doesn’t BP simply agree to settle with all shareholders on a per share basis meaning New York City Pension Plan would net exactly nothing.
Department of Silver Linings: If they win, the precedent may be useful for American voters to sue Barack Obama for exaggerating his ability to run the country without wrecking the economy and devaluing everyone’s pension investments.
EPA wouldnt let BP put out the fire with the chemicals they needed to use, HEALTH AND SAFETY prevented using divers to attack the problem, and DEPT of ENERGY required BP to hire the local US managers that subverted the safety systems they already had in place… NOW the pensions people want to sue BP over bad decisions?? Every good decision BP tried to make was overrulled by an American Beaurocrat.
Sue the beaurocrats.
“Galt, not Gault.”
John Galt – Gault brothers – easy to mix up 😉
Wouldn’t that be sweet? 🙂
Just another bunch of rent seekers blaming the wrong people. Fly by night law suites.
People are always blaming the oil companies for gas prices ,but never look to see that most of their cost is Government taxes. Look where the profit really goes. You guessed it. The Government. Yet they act like wounded lambs every time.
In related news, the NDP and their leader are suing Canadian resource companies for “artificially inflating” the Cdn dollar by providing prosperity to Canadians and adding .000000000000001% to world pollution.
I plan to launch a class action suit on behalf of all taxpayers against all governments at all levels for “artificially inflating” the value of services provided by taxes.
Vancouver Canucks fans are also suing the team for “artifically inflating” their chances of winning the Cup this year. There was no comment from the Leafs’ management.
All the MSM should be sued for “artificially inflating” the value of their claptrap journalism, and,of course, pollution and “emissions” caused by all the newsprint they use whose value they have, you guessed it, “artificially inflated.”
Totally agree @scar. All stockholders lost value. If the NY pension plans get a settlement, it comes out of the pockets of the other stockholders who didn’t sue. It would pay those other stockholders to institute a class action against BP just to prevent the NY pension plans from ripping them off.