Union files lawsuit against Dana, execs

10/25/2005

A union and its pension and welfare funds are the latest shareholders to sue Dana Corp. alleging executives weren't forthcoming on the company's finances, hurting stockholders when the company announced earnings would be restated.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Toledo, the pension funds of Amalgamated Workers Union Local 88, as well as another arm, said that Dana, Chief Executive Michael Burns, and Chief Financial Officer Robert Richter "caused the company's shares to trade at artificially inflated levels through, among other things, the issuance of materially false and misleading financial statements."

The suit, like others filed by individual plaintiffs in recent weeks, seeks class action status for people who bought Dana stock from Feb. 11, 2004, through Oct. 10, when the Toledo firm said it would restate its earnings for its last six financial quarters.