Overseas Shipholding Group Senior Notes Purchasers Recover 87% of Damages in Securities Class Action

On December 2, 2015, United States District Court Judge Shira A. Scheindlin granted final approval of a $31 million settlement on behalf of class members in the securities class action against Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (“OSG”), one of the largest oil tanker operating companies in the world. The settlement represents approximately 87% of the maximum §11 damages, as calculated by plaintiffs’ experts, that purchasers of OSG 8.125% senior notes due 2018 issued or traceable to OSG’s $300 million public offering on March 24, 2010 could reasonably expect to recover at trial, and approximately 26% of the maximum §10(b) damages, as calculated by plaintiffs’ experts, that purchasers of OSG common stock could reasonably expect to recover at trial – phenomenal recoveries for class members, and well above the average recovery when compared to actual losses.

The settlement resolves allegations that defendants misled class members regarding OSG’s tax liability. OSG has acknowledged that there were material misstatements in its previously issued financial statements from 2000 through 2011 and for the first two quarters of 2012. Plaintiffs alleged that the risks of this immense tax liability were consciously recognized internally, and/or recklessly and/or negligently disregarded by the defendants at the time that public statements were made to class members.

Robbins Geller attorneys Samuel H. Rudman, David A. Rosenfeld, Alan I. Ellman and Christopher T. Gilroy obtained this settlement for the class.  

In re OSG Sec. Litig., No. 1:12-cv-07948 (S.D.N.Y.)