While former Midway owner Mark Thomas settled his lawsuit with the publisher's creditors over the summer, there was still an outstanding lawsuit against the company's top executives by shareholders. The latter lawsuit concluded today, according to the Chicago Sun Times, in favor of former CEO David Zucker, chief financial officer Thomas Powell and chief marketing officer Steven Allison, among others.
U.S. District Court Judge David H. Coar ruled that the shareholders failed to make their case that the executives knowingly deceived the public about Midway's financial state while they sold their own shares for profit. The judge noted that the executives did not “[say or do] anything more than publicly adopt a hopeful posture that its strategic plans would pay off. Such preening for the financial press is classic puffery."
Warner Bros. successfully completed its purchase of Midway in July, laying off many of the company's executives a short time afterwards.
