Case Name: Granite Construction

Settlement Fund: $129,000,000

Claim Filing Deadline: January 24, 2022

Class Period: 2/17/2017 -- 10/24/2019

Symbol: GVA

Granite Construction, a California-based general contractor and construction material provider, has settled a securities litigation for $129 million, putting up the first 9-digit settlement for the year 2022. (Don’t worry, we expect more.)

Granite focuses on both public and private infrastructure projects, from roads and bridges to mass-transit and airports, and employs over 7,000 people across the country. According to the complaint, “the Company failed to properly account for… massive and continuing cost overruns in violation of GAAP, which required Granite to book the costs when known or incurred. By April 30, 2018, the I-4 Ultimate Project [in Florida], Tappan Zee Project [New York], PennDOT Project [Pennsylvania], and the Texas Project [uh, Texas] had experienced cost overruns of $100 million, $900 million, $340 million, and $25 million respectively.” When the true nature of each of these projects was made public, investors suffered substantial losses, plaintiffs allege.

The company has settled but continues to deny the allegations. The plaintiffs claim that if this case had gone to trial and if their case was successful, the “aggregate damages recoverable” would have been approximately $424 million to $620 million. That means that the recovery of $129 is anywhere from 20 to 30% of the plaintiff's own estimated possible recovery.

Of course, winning a verdict is a Big-If, the sort of Big-If that keeps defense attorneys and plaintiff attorneys awake at night in equal measure. The settlement notice points out, after citing the $424-620 million range of a hypothetical jury verdict, “that amount could be substantially lower or zero if certain arguments by the Defendants were accepted by the Court or a jury.” Hence, a settlement, so everyone can sleep tight.

If the thing that keeps you up at night is the idea of filing securities class action claims—a tedious burden which distracts from the real work of investing—then give us a call. This is our real work, and it does not have to be yours. At CCC, we track cases before complaints are even filed, monitor their progress through the courts, and find every settlement as soon as it happens. We then file claims, fix deficiencies and when need be contest rejections, accept settlement awards and ensure that every dollar is received. Finally, we allocate that money in whichever way best serves you and your clients. 

Claim forms are due January 24, 2022 in the Granite Construction settlement. But you can sleep tight tonight if you call CCC today to begin outsourcing this claim, and every other securities class action claim, to us.