Kirby McInerney, a New York-based plaintiffs’ law firm, has filed a class action lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Oregon on behalf of those who purchased Portland General Electric Company (PGE) shares between 24 April 2020 and 24 August 2020.

The law firm said that the investors have time until 2 November 2020 to apply to the court to be appointed as lead plaintiff in the case.

PGE, which is an electric utility, caters to the state of Oregon with the generation, transmission, distribution, and retail sale of electricity. The electric utility also takes part in wholesale markets by buying and selling electricity and natural gas to cover the requirements of its retail customers.

On 24 August 2020, PGE said that it had suffered losses of $127 million as of that date. The electric utility further stated that “PGE personnel entered into a number of energy trades during 2020, with increasing volume accumulating late in the second quarter and into the third quarter, resulting in significant exposure to the Company.”

Additionally, PGE revealed that it formed a special committee for reviewing the energy trading that resulted in the losses and the company’s procedures and controls associated with the trading. Owing to this news, PGE’s share price came down $3.51, or about 8%, to close at $38.45 per share on 24 August 2020.

Kirby McInerney said that the complaint in the lawsuit argues that throughout the class period defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, and also did not reveal material adverse facts about PGE’s business, operations, and prospects.

In particular, defendants did not disclose to investors that PGE did not have effective internal controls over its energy trading practices. They also did not reveal that PGE personnel had entered energy trades during the current year, with increasing volume accumulating late in Q2 and into Q3, that created substantial negative financial exposure for PGE.

Kirby McInerney also said that the complaint alleges that due to the actions, PGE was reasonably expected to be hit with considerable losses and due to the foregoing, defendants’ positive statements about its business, operations, and prospects were misleading materially and/or did not have a reasonable basis.

  Kirby McInerney, PGE, Portland General Electric Company, US District Court for the District of Oregon