In a recent article for Packaging Dive titled “Federal Court Considers Lead Plaintiffs in Class-action Lawsuit Against GPI,” Emmanuel Hurtado provided commentary on the escalating class action lawsuit against Graphic Packaging International and its former CEO and CFO. Additionally, he explained the legal mechanics surrounding case certification and plaintiff appointment.
A GPI shareholder initially filed the complaint in May 2026, alleging that the corporation and its former CEO and CFO violated federal securities laws by misleading investors about the company’s financial health and status. A federal judge is now considering the lead plaintiff in the ongoing case, in which several attorneys submitted motions on July 6. One of the competing plaintiffs, Steven Probst, shared that he is not opposed to the Saskatchewan Healthcare Employees’ Pension Plan serving as the lead plaintiff, as the organization suffered greater financial losses. Emmanuel highlighted to Packaging Dive that the Court’s focus should shift to the Saskatchewan Healthcare Employees’ Pension Plan serving as the lead plaintiff, while providing defendants the opportunity to oppose the motion.
For appointing the lead plaintiff, Emmanuel noted that this individual should have standing relative to the defendant and have suffered harm similar to other plaintiffs. “When you’re choosing a lead plaintiff, you’re trying to choose somebody who is representative of the entire class,” he told Packaging Dive. “You would want to choose a plaintiff who was actually harmed, so in this case probably a shareholder.”
Emmanuel went on to describe how the determination of a lead plaintiff helps define the scope of the 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,” says Emmanuel, adding, “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.” Once the court decides whether class certification is appropriate, Emmanuel explains that attorneys will contact other members of the named case to invite them to participate, in this case, likely other shareholders.
He emphasized to Packaging Dive that class certification “can make or break a case.” “Once the court rules on that, there will most likely be motions to dismiss,” Emmanuel details, while predicting a prolonged discovery period is likely to follow.
