Class-action Lawsuit Targets Textron, Cessna Backlog

The City of Roseville Employees’ Retirement System has filed a class-action complaint “on behalf of itself and all others similarly situated” alleging that investors in Textron shares were misled by statements about backlogs at Cessna Aircraft. Plaintiffs would have purchased Textron shares between July 17, 2007, and Jan. 29, 2009. The complaint alleges, “Textron was accepting orders for business jets from a growing number of customers that were mere start-up and/or financially distressed fleet operators who neither intended to, nor possessed the financial resources to, pay for or take delivery of aircraft during 2008-9 and beyond.” The complaint further alleges that part of the reason for the alleged misrepresentation of the backlogs were setbacks that Textron’s Bell Helicopter unit was having with “several helicopter projects under development for the [U.S.] Marine Corps and a ‘payment for profit’ scheme engaged in by several of the company’s French affiliates in connection with the United Nations Oil for Food Program in Iraq.”