NY jury rules for shareholders in lawsuit against Vivendi shareholders; executives cleared

NY jury rules for shareholders in Vivendi suit

NEW YORK — A jury on Friday decided in favor of U.S. and European shareholders who said the Vivendi media group lied to the public about its shaky finances.

The company was found liable, but not its executives, according to the jury at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan

Vivendi said it will appeal.

Thousands of investors from the United States, France, England and the Netherlands say Vivendi covered up its troubles in 2001 and 2002. The company flirted with bankruptcy before reorganizing successfully.

Jean-Marie Messier was forced out as CEO in July 2002, when the company was known as Vivendi Universal.

Defendants in the trial were Vivendi, Messier and former chief financial officer, Guillaume Hannezo.

The jury found Vivendi 100 percent responsible for misstatements or omissions that misled shareholders. It concluded that at times the misstatements or omissions inflated the stock by as much as $11.

Outside court, attorney Paul Saunders Vivendi was disappointed with the judgment.

“We feel very good about the appeal,” he said, adding that the company would ask the judge within a month to toss out the case entirely.

He said the company was pleased that the jury gave the plaintiffs only half of the rate per share that they were requesting.

He said that if the case is not thrown out, it would take at least a year to determine how many people deserve compensation and how much money was at stake.

“We have just really begun to fight,” he said.