Compass Minerals executives sued over fire retardants and salt mining

Compass Minerals International Inc. fire and ice-fighting products are at the center of a number of investor lawsuits against the multi-industry mineral supplier’s directors and executives, alleging they breached their fiduciary duties and committed other corporate crimes.

Its leaders misrepresented the safety and government contract prospects for its magnesium chloride-based flame retardants, the flagship product of a company it had recently acquired, Fabrizio Morelli says in a derivative lawsuit. And an overlapping group of current and former officials covered up the failure of new salt mining equipment to cut costs as expected, Morelli says in the other lawsuit. Morelli…