Sprint agrees to settle remaining Nextel merger lawsuits with reforms and attorney fees

A year after settling a class-action investor lawsuit tied to the 2005 Sprint-Nextel merger, Sprint has reached a settlement to wrap up remaining litigation spawned by the merger.

Four cases are covered by the settlement that would deliver $4.25 million in attorneys’ fees if approved in court. It does not include a payout from Sprint to shareholders. The attorneys may apply to use some of the money to pay $5,000 “incentive awards” to the shareholders who were named as plaintiffs.

Sprint had agreed in April 2015 to pay $131 million to settle a class-action lawsuit. That settlement came about after the case was approved as a class action covering all investors with similar claims.

A Sprint spokeswoman said the proposed settlement would wrap up all the remaining litigation tied to the merger. Sprint disclosed the proposed settlement in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Judge James F. Vano will hold a hearing at 9 a.m. May 26 in Johnson County District Court to allow the Sprint shareholders covered by the court actions to object to the proposed settlement. To object, the shareholder must file in court a written notice of the objection at least 14 days before the hearing date.

The proposed settlement requires Sprint to adopt several reforms to its corporate governance, at least any that haven’t already been put in place.

Each side continued to assert its position in the cases, according to a court filing that gives notice of the proposed settlement. The settlement, it said, reflects the “potentially protracted time, expense and uncertainty associated with continued litigation” and “a material benefit” for Sprint and its current shareholders from the reforms.

Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. owns more than 80 percent of Sprint, having purchased control in 2013.

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Sprint agrees to settle remaining Nextel merger lawsuits with reforms and attorney fees."