A federal judge in Minnesota granted in part and denied in part UnitedHealth's (UNH) motion to dismiss a suit brought by the California Public Employees' Retirement System that accuses the company of violating the Securities Exchange Act and a Securities and Exchange Commission rule, a Wednesday court filing showed.

CalPERS alleges the health insurer engaged in a scheme to deceive investors and made misleading statements over four years about the company and two of its subsidiaries, Optum and UnitedHealthcare. CalPERS also alleges two individual defendants named in the suit, Andrew Witty and Stephen Hemsley, engaged in insider trading.

The judge denied the company's motion to dismiss a count in the suit alleging misstatements relating to its portfolio refinement transactions.

"For its part, CalPERS argues that Defendants made strategic omissions and misleading statements to investors regarding the reason for and nature of the transactions," Judge Jeffrey Bryan said in the order. "The Court agrees with CalPERS."

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