A person who sought to be lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against Graphic Packaging International and two of its former C-suite executives filed a new motion with the court indicating they approve of a different party being appointed to the lead role.
On July 6, various attorneys submitted motions from competing plaintiffs to Judge Jeannette A. Vargas in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. On July 13, one of those plaintiffs, Steven Probst, indicated he would not oppose the competing motion for Saskatchewan Healthcare Employees' Pension Plan to serve as lead plaintiff.
Probst said he suffered more than $4,800 in financial losses due to his recent purchases of GPI stock. But upon reviewing other plaintiffs' motions, he discovered he “does not possess the 'largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class,'" the filing says. The document explains that the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 says the most appropriate party to serve as lead plaintiff has “the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class,” which in this case would be Saskatchewan Healthcare Employees' Pension Plan.
This should turn the court's focus toward Saskatchewan Healthcare Employees' Pension Plan's motion to serve as lead plaintiff, and defendants would have an opportunity to oppose that motion, said Emmanuel Hurtado, an associate at Stubbs Alderton & Markiles who reviewed the complaint but is not involved in the case.
“When you're choosing a lead plaintiff, you're trying to choose somebody who is representative of the entire class,” Hurtado said. “You would want to choose a plaintiff who was actually harmed, so in this case probably a shareholder.”
A shareholder initially filed the lawsuit in May against GPI as well as former CEO Mike Doss and former CFO Stephen Scherger. The suit alleges the defendants violated federal securities laws by misleading investors with certain statements, or by failing to make disclosures, about the company’s financial health and operations.
The complaint says the defendants indicated GPI’s operations and financial results were “strong and steady” despite market headwinds. However, the company’s stock price proceeded to drop precipitously, which the lawsuit says caused financial harm to shareholders who used the information to make investment decisions. Because they had access to the company’s securities filings and communications, Doss and Scherger had the ability to correct the misleading public statements, or prevent them from being released, the lawsuit says.
In October 2025, Amcor announced that it was hiring Scherger away from GPI to become its new CFO. In December, GPI announced it would end Doss’ 10-year run as CEO and replace him with Robbert Rietbroek as of Jan. 1. In June, Doss was named CEO of Global Cellulose Fibers, a company formed in January when private equity firm American Industrial Partners purchased International Paper’s GCF business for $1.5 billion.
The lawsuit seeks damage payments, along with payment of attorneys’ fees and other costs, for shareholders who acquired GPI shares between Feb. 4, 2025, and Feb. 2, 2026.
A lead plaintiff for class-action lawsuits such as this one should have standing relative to the defendant, and the court must determine that plaintiff has been injured in similar ways to other plaintiffs, Hurtado explained. Determining the lead plaintiff helps to determine a class for a case.
“They're going to use the lead plaintiff as kind of like the exemplar of what the class should be, so that's significant,” he said. “Now the court is going to rule on whether there is an identifiable class of people that meet the criteria for a class in this case.”
After a court decides whether class certification is appropriate, then lawyers typically reach out to members of the named class for invitations to participate, Hurtado said. In this case, attorneys might contact all shareholders who held stock during the stated time frame.
“The big hurdle is the class certification issue” and that “can make or break a case,” he said. “Once the court rules on that, there will most likely be motions to dismiss,” followed by a lengthy discovery period.
Graphic Packaging International has previously said it does not comment on pending litigation.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note a former candidate for lead plaintiff indicated support for a different party taking on the role. Also, a previous version of this story erred in stating a lead plaintiff had been appointed in the case; the court is still reviewing which party will serve as lead plaintiff.
