Court Grants Preliminary Approval of $34 Million Settlement with Deloitte in SCANA Auditor Liability Class Action

Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC represented plaintiff IBEW Local 98 Pension Fund in obtaining preliminary approval of a $34 million cash settlement with Deloitte & Touche LLP. A federal judge in South Carolina granted preliminary approval of the settlement to resolve IBEW Local 98 Pension Fund v. Deloitte, a certified securities fraud class action originally filed in 2019. The agreement, which ranks among the top five auditor recoveries in the past decade, follows related recoveries in In re SCANA Corporation Securities Litigation and brings total shareholder recoveries tied to the matter to $226.5 million. The IBEW action was the only case addressing auditor liability in the broader SCANA litigation. The plaintiffs alleged that Deloitte breached its duties as SCANA’s external auditor by issuing unqualified audit reports and certifying the company’s internal controls despite voluminous evidence, including whistleblower findings, that SCANA could not achieve its objectives for the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station expansion. Shareholders contend Deloitte’s audit work misled investors and regulators about construction delays and cost overruns and fostered the belief that SCANA would complete the nuclear project in time to claim $1.4 billion in tax credits. The $9 billion expansion project was abandoned by SCANA in 2017 amid revelations that the company had deliberately or recklessly concealed overruns and delays. Over more than five years of litigation, plaintiffs secured key rulings: in 2020 the court denied Deloitte’s motion to dismiss, finding shareholders had plausibly alleged that Deloitte helped conceal the fraud in a manner amounting to essentially no audit, and in November 2024 the court certified the class. The preliminary approval marks a major step toward final resolution of the certified action. Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC represented client IBEW Local 98 Pension Fund with a team composed by: Laura Posner, partner at Cohen Milstein and court-appointed lead counsel in the matter.

Court Grants Preliminary Approval of $34 Million Settlement with Deloitte in SCANA Auditor Liability Class Action

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