Dominion Energy executives have lost their 1st big legal test in South Carolina.
The Virginia utility which bought SC Electric & Gas will pay investors $192.5 million to settle their lawsuits over a failed $9 billion nuclear project.
Dominion may be forced to pay former SCANA shareholders – many of them current and retired employees – $160 million in cash and $32.5 million in stock.
SCANA shareholders between October 2015 and December 2017 will be eligible for payment.
Top executives received millions in retirement pay while their employees lost billions in stock value they counted on for retirement.
The Charleston Post and Courier found that the deal was reached last month after a year of negotiation.
The agreement was filed last week in federal court to resolve a huge legal liability for Dominion, which took over Lexington County-based SCE&G and its former owners SCANA Corp.
The class-action lawsuits were filed after SCANA executives abandoned 2 unfinished nuclear reactors years over deadline and billions above estimated costs.
Shareholders accused SCANA executives of misleading investors about the management of the nuclear project then abandoning it.
The investors’ attorneys bashed former and current owners for hiding a damning audit by Bechtel Corp.
Bechtel discovered:
• The project would fail to qualify for $2 billion in federal tax credits.
• Unfinished blueprints, millions of dollars in mishandled materials, and gross mismanagement by lead contractor Westinghouse Electric and project owners SCE&G and Santee Cooper.
Gov. Henry McMaster forced Santee Cooper to reveal Bechtel’s analysis.
The findings were 1st reported by the Post and Courier, creating a political backlash against formerly trusted SCANA executives.
Investor lawyers want 14% of the settlement – more than $26 million – according to court records.
Dominion won’t be forced to admit that SCANA executives did anything to mislead or harm investors.
The settlement is not expected to affect Dominion ratepayers nor resolve criminal liability federal prosecutors are investigating. 
A federal judge will have to approve settlement terms.