Stay informed on the latest legal developments impacting employee ownership. This page provides timely and concise summaries of key cases and rulings, contributed by experienced attorneys, to help the entire employee ownership community understand their implications, and also offers access to NCEO's archive of prior content.
Wendy Gilligan
On November 4, 2025, the California Office of Tax Appeals (“OTA”) issued a nonprecedential decision in a dispute between appellants A. Varela and J. Varela and respondent Franchise Tax Board (“FTB”), regarding the tax treatment of Mud Management, Inc. (“Mud”).
Christopher Wingard
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California has ordered the plaintiffs in Dalton et al. v. Freeman et al. to submit specific factual allegations in a Rule 7 reply. This procedural ruling is the latest development in multi-year litigation arising from a 2020 ESOP redemption transaction.
Christopher Wingard
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that invalidated an arbitration provision in an employee stock ownership plan sponsored by A360, Inc. (the “ESOP”), holding that the clause unlawfully waived participants’ statutory rights under ERISA. This ruling affirms the earlier procedural decision that allowed the claims to proceed. For the full history of the initial district court case and the underlying arbitration dispute, see the original NCEO Legal Digest entry: Court Rules Arbitration Clause Does Not Apply in A360 ESOP Termination Lawsuit.
Alan H. Kandel is a Partner at Husch Blackwell specializing in Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation. He counsels a wide variety of clients—including ... »
Chris is an associate in Kleinbard’s Business & Finance Practice. He advises corporations, shareholders, directors and employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) ... »
NCEO founder and senior staff member
Griffin F. O'Gara is an Associate in Krieg DeVault's Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice. Mr. O'Gara primarily devotes his practice to ... »
Jim is Co-Chair of Stevens & Lee's ESOP Group and Chairman of SES ESOP Strategies, with over 35 years of experience in ESOP design, transactions, and ... »
Lauren Wood, Associate Attorney at Employee Benefits Law Group PC Guidance, is involved in several areas of employee benefits with a primary focus on issues ... »
