A federal judge in Manhattan has dismissed a proposed class action by FedEx shareholders accusing the company of hiding the extent of the damage the "NotPetya" computer virus wreaked on the company's nascent European expansion in 2017.

U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams ruled on Thursday that the lead plaintiff, a pension fund represented by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, had not adequately alleged statements by the company about its performance as it recovered from the effects of the malware were false or misleading. The judge denied leave to amend the complaint.

Jay Kasner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom represented FedEx. Neither he, nor Chad Johnson of Robbins Geller immediately responded to requests for comment on Thursday.

In 2017, the virus crippled parts of Ukraine's infrastructure and damaged computers in countries across the globe and was then considered one of the worst cyberattacks on record. U.S. officials later attributed the malware to Russian military hackers.

Shareholders sued FedEx and several of its officers in 2019 following disclosures it made about the extent to which the virus had set back plans to integrate TNT Express BV, a Dutch company it acquired in 2016.

Lead plaintiff the United Kingdom-based West Yorkshire Pension Fund alleged $3.4 million in losses and sought to represent other investors who lost money on the company's shares between September 2017 and December 2018, when FedEx said it would not meet its income target in part because of the fallout from the virus.

The Tennessee-based shipping company and its current and former officers moved to dismiss the lawsuit in March, arguing the pension fund had failed to allege conscious misbehavior or that statements about its efforts to restore services and integrate TNT were misleading or false.

On Thursday, Abrams said that the targeted statements generally could not be considered misleading, as they appeared alongside warnings about the risk of continued effects from the computer virus which were "often bolded and italicized" for emphasis.

FedEx's statements about its income goals were also forward-looking and protected by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, she said. Abrams further found the complaint lacked allegations that the company's statements about TNT's recovery from the malware were false when made.

Abrams also said the complaint had to be dismissed for not including specific allegations that the company's officers had received information that contradicted their public statements.

The case is In re FedEx Corp. Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 19-cv-05990.

For the pension fund: Chad Johnson, Noam Mandel and Desiree Cummings of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd.

For FedEx: Jay Kasner, Susan Saltzstein, William O'Brien and Andrew Beatty of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom