A federal judge has granted a motion to dismiss a securities class-action lawsuit against former executives of a bankrupt electric vehicle manufacturer formerly known as Lordstown Motors Corp.

The lawsuit alleged that the executives misled investors about the company's partnership with Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer.

U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson found that the plaintiffs, a group of investors, failed to adequately prove their securities fraud claims. While the investors argued that the executives made misleading statements about the partnership, Judge Pearson concluded that the executives' statements were consistent with the company's public disclosures and that the plaintiffs had not shown that the executives knew the statements were false at the time they were made.

The lawsuit accused former Lordstown Motors CEO Edward Hightower, CFO Adam Kroll, and former CEO Daniel Ninivaggi of making misleading statements about the company's partnership with Foxconn. The plaintiffs alleged that the executives knew that the partnership was in trouble and that Foxconn was planning to abandon it but failed to disclose this information to investors.

In granting the defendants' motion to dismiss, the judge noted that the plaintiffs had failed to offer sufficient facts to support claims required to prove securities fraud. The judge found that the plaintiffs had not shown that the defendants had acted with a "high degree of culpability" or that they had "a strong motive to commit fraud."

Lordstown Motors, once headquartered at the former General Motors Assembly Plant in Lordstown, had planned to make the all-electric Endurance pickup truck here in the Valley but filed for bankruptcy in June 2023.

The company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2024 under the name Nu Ride Inc. and is now headquartered in New York City.