Diamond Foods to pay $96 million to settle shareholder lawsuit

Diamond Foods Inc (DMND.O) will pay about $96 million to settle a lawsuit related to the restatement of its results after an accounting scandal rocked the maker of Emerald Nuts and Kettle Chips last year.
Shares of the company, which also forecast higher-than-expected fourth-quarter sales, rose as much as 20 percent in morning trading on the settlement of the class action lawsuit. Diamond said it will pay $11 million in cash and issue 4.45 million common shares to a fund to settle the lawsuit against the company and two of its former officers.According to court documents, the settlement amount, subject to court approval, represents about 25-40 percent of what the lead plaintiffs saw as the maximum damages theoretically recoverable in this case.