Bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises sued over Coca-Cola's planned takeover in North America

By Jeremiah McWilliams

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Another putative class-action lawsuit has been launched to challenge Coca-Cola's plan to take over the North American operations of its main bottler. That agreement was announced last month but must still be approved by regulators and CCE shareholders.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Fulton County Superior Court, asserts that Coca-Cola, by virtue of its stock ownership and business dealings with bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises, controls and dominates the smaller company.

"As a controlling shareholder, Coke owes to CCE's public shareholders a duty of entire fairness," the lawsuit says, according to an online summary. "By virtue of the challenged transaction, Coke has breached this duty. The asset/share exchange is unfair both as to price and process."

The lawsuit accuses CCE's directors of breaching their duties of due care, loyalty and good faith to shareholders. Plaintiff Natalie Gordon is represented by Atlanta attorney Martin D. Chitwood, who filed a similar lawsuit against CCE and Coca-Cola in February.

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