GE Workers Lose Appeal Bid to Revive Stock Option Plan Lawsuit

The Second Circuit declined to revive a would-be class lawsuit against General Electric and former CEO Jeffrey Immelt on Thursday, saying vague allegations and limited options failed to support claims the company breached fiduciary duties to its employee stock option plan participants.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concluded in a non-precedential summary order that the company could have reasonably concluded that Adele Varga’s proposed alternative actions would have done “more harm than good.”

Varga, a GE employee whose 401(k) investments included an employee stock option fund, alleged that GE’s reinsurance subsidiaries didn’t “provide for adequate reserves ...