"The federal appeals court decision could re-open the company's old wounds from a series of controversies across Florida."
"An investor lawsuit accusing Florida Power & Light’s parent company, NextEra, and several current and former executives of securities fraud can move forward, a panel of federal appeals judges ruled last week in a remarkable resurrection of the case. The suit, which has two Florida pension funds as the lead plaintiffs, argues that the company made misleading statements as Florida newspapers several years ago uncovered evidence of a wide range of misdeeds, including involvement in efforts to warp Florida elections through the use of “ghost” candidates, use of dirty tricks to acquire Jacksonville’s city-owned electric utility, surveillance of a journalist and attempts to control media coverage.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed that class-action lawsuit against NextEra, finding that the lead investors had failed to demonstrate that any of the company’s statements during a maelstrom of news coverage about those controversies was sufficiently misleading.
A panel of 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges sharply disagreed.
“The complaint has it all: corporate malfeasance, bribery, off-the-books recordkeeping, surveilling journalists, creating ‘ghost’ candidates, corrupting independent media outlets, and a failed acquisition that spiraled into two federal indictments,” Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat wrote in a 38-page decision, joined by Judges Elizabeth Branch and Embry Kidd."
Nate Monroe reports for The Tributary December 1, 2025.
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