CALPERS MOVES TO JOIN SUIT : GOAL IS TO RECOVER FUNDS FROM GRACE EXECUTIVES.Byline: Diana B. Henriques The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times In an unusual move, the California public employee pension fund, known as Calpers, has asked court permission to join in shareholder lawsuits pending in New York State Supreme Court against officers and directors of W.R. Grace & Co. The giant fund's goal, it says, is to recover for Grace some of the millions paid two former top executives who left the company under a cloud. A lawyer for the fund said the move reflects the Calpers concern that the lawyers now representing shareholders were not being aggressive enough in trying to recover more than $12 million in supposedly excessive retirement pay and benefits paid to J. Peter Grace in 1993 and 1994. Grace died last April, just weeks after being forced to agree to end his long career as the company's chairman. Another target is the $20 million severance The act of dividing, or the state of being divided. The term severance has unique meanings in different branches of the law. Courts use the term in both civil and criminal litigation in two ways: first, when dividing a lawsuit into two or more parts, and second, when payment made to J.P. Bolduc, Grace's former chief executive, who resigned last spring amid accusations that he had engaged in sexual harassment sexual harassment, in law, verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature, aimed at a particular person or group of people, especially in the workplace or in academic or other institutional settings, that is actionable, as in tort or under equal-opportunity statutes. of several employees. An independent counsel advised the Grace board that the accusations were credible; Bolduc denies that any impropriety occurred. The intervention A procedure used in a lawsuit by which the court allows a third person who was not originally a party to the suit to become a party, by joining with either the plaintiff or the defendant. - the first by Calpers in three years - comes just seven weeks after lawyers for another public pension fund, the Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado, took over a shareholder class-action lawsuit against California Micro Devices. The Colorado fund's role was approved by a federal judge who was dissatisfied dis·sat·is·fied adj. Feeling or exhibiting a lack of contentment or satisfaction. dis·sat  is·fied with a settlement the original plaintiffs' lawyers had negotiated. Kayla J. Gillan, deputy general counsel for the $85 billion California fund, said Calpers was stepping into the Grace case because ``based on the publicly available documents, we thought the case had real merit, so we want to be sure that the maximum amount possible is recovered for shareholders.'' Calpers owns more than 1.3 million Grace shares, about a 1.4 percent stake. The Grace litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. is a derivative action A lawsuit brought by a shareholder of a corporation on its behalf to enforce or defend a legal right or claim, which the corporation has failed to do. A derivative action, more popularly known as a Stockholder's Derivative Suit, is derived from the primary right of the , consolidating five lawsuits filed by investors last spring. Unlike the more familiar shareholder class-action lawsuits, in which investors sue to recover their own losses, a derivative action is filed against a company's officers by shareholders acting on the company's behalf. The shareholders are not seeking money for themselves but rather want to redress Compensation for injuries sustained; recovery or restitution for harm or injury; damages or equitable relief. Access to the courts to gain Reparation for a wrong. REDRESS. The act of receiving satisfaction for an injury sustained. what they regard as an injury to the company; any money paid in a settlement would be restored to the company. The injuries cited in these cases were the ``perks'' and other benefits paid to Grace and members of his family, which became the focus of a board room battle after Bolduc insisted that they be more fully disclosed. |
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