US appeals court revives whistleblower lawsuit against WPP
NEW YORK, Sept 10 (Reuters) - A divided U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . appeals court on Thursday revived a whistleblower lawsuit by a former official of a unit of advertising company WPP Plc (LSE: WPP.L - news) , who claimed he was fired in retaliation for reporting accounting irregularities to his superiors.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Daniel Berman, who was a finance director at WPP's Neo@Ogilvy LLC unit, could qualify for whistleblower protection under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms, though he did not report his concerns to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission before the retaliation.
Thursday's 2-1 vote reversed a December 2014 ruling by U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan (Hamburg: 32U.HM - news) .
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)