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LAWSUITS NEWS & LEGAL INFORMATION

US Sugar Reaches $15.9M Settlement in Securities Class Action


This is a settlement for the Securities/Stock Fraud lawsuit.

A settlement has been reached for a total potential value of $15.9 million with the U.S. Sugar Corporation on behalf of the employee shareholders and other shareholders of the Clewiston, Florida-based company. U.S. Sugar is the country's largest producer of sugar cane and refined cane sugar and is one of Florida's major producers of oranges and orange juice products.

The class action lawsuit was filed in West Palm Beach Federal Court in January 2008 on behalf of 4,000 current and former U.S. Sugar employees including farm field workers, union mill workers, administrative staff, and others who own or owned a large percentage of the company's shares through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), and other shareholders including several Michigan-based charities.

The lawsuit alleged U.S. Sugar's Board of Directors failed to inform shareholders of two lucrative buyout offers thus denying them a substantial profit on their shares and undervalued the shares held by the ESOP.

A final approval hearing has been scheduled for January 4, 2010. The settlement requires U.S. Sugar to pay $8.4 million to the employee shareholders and other shareholders upon final approval, with the balance of $7.5 million to be paid upon U.S. Sugar and the State of Florida successfully completing their deal relating to the U.S. Sugar property, expected to be completed in 2010.

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Published on Oct-7-09


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