March 15, 2023

New NCEO Data on the Costs of ESOP Litigation

NCEO founder and senior staff member

A new NCEO study found that, over the last 10 years, 68 private company ESOP court cases had results in settlements or judgments that cost the defendants a total of $385.5 million. The average payout per employee in these cases was $14,400 per participant. If these costs were spread out over all private company ESOPs, this would average about $6,200 per year per company. Of course, that is not how these amounts are paid, but it provides context to compare what companies and/or ESOP trustees pay per company in fiduciary insurance.

The full results of the study are in the March issue of the NCEO newsletter, now online, as well as our new book Lessons from Recent ESOP Ligitation.