The world's largest beverage maker has agreed to pay $137.5 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Atlanta-based Coca-Cola included all persons who bought Coca-Cola stock between Oct. 21, 1999 and March 6, 2000. The suit claimed company officials misrepresented or omitted information in public statements, causing the company's stock price to be inflated. Coca-Cola did not admit any wrongdoing in settling the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, according to the agreement dated June 26 and entered July 3. The agreement says that Coca-Cola and the other defendants, who include several former top executives of the company, continue to deny all substantive allegations of wrongdoing. The defendants believe they would ultimately prevail, but have considered the risk and expense of going forward and, therefore, decided to settle, court records show.
