CalPERS to Join N.Y. Suit Against Columbia

The nation’s largest public pension fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, said it will join a derivative action lawsuit against Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., the world’s largest for-profit hospital company. CalPERS said it will join New York State Comptroller H. Carl McCall’s lawsuit, which alleges acts of gross mismanagement, corporate waste, abuse of control and breaches of fiduciary duty by members of Columbia’s board of directors and senior company executives. CalPERS owns more than 3.7 million shares of common stock in Nashville-based Columbia. The value of CalPERS’ investment has declined by $50 million since reports of alleged wrongdoing by Columbia officials began circulating. “This is not something that is new. We have known since last month that CalPERS had this intention to join in the derivative suit,” said Columbia spokesman Jeff Prescott. Prescott said the health-care company has gathered the best outside help available to review everything the company is doing and implement a 12-point plan to address the issues. CalPERS said it is seeking to recover lost profit, penalties, illegal gains, legal fees, fines, lost revenue and other damages. Columbia shares, which have fallen 30% since mid-March when the probe came to light, rose 31 cents to close at $29.75 on the NYSE.