Mall Property Trust Defeats Investors’ Fraud Lawsuit Over Yields

Investors in real estate investment trust Washington Prime Group Inc. failed to show a link between executives’ statements about expected yields from mall redevelopment projects and a stock-price drop, a federal court said in dismissing their proposed class action.

The investors also didn’t adequately allege that statements about the company’s ability to borrow money during the Covid-19 pandemic caused their losses, Judge James L. Graham said Wednesday for the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

WPG owned shopping malls throughout the US, according to the court. “Being a mall owner in the 2010s was a challenge, as …