NextEra Energy Granted Dismissal of ‘Ghost Candidate’ Lawsuit

NextEra Energy Inc. investors failed to show that the company’s alleged creation of ghost candidates to challenge political opponents was securities fraud, a federal court in Florida said.

Shareholders alleged in a proposed class action in May that the world’s largest utility company engaged in “political misconduct,” employing a network of nonprofits to secretly channel funds to “ghost candidates” in the 2020 election cycle. The legal violations stemming from that misconduct and news coverage of it exposed the company and a local subsidiary to reputational risks, which in turn harmed investors, the complaint said.

Shareholders failed to adequately plead fraud-on-the-market, ...