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.
Corey Rosen
In Walsh v. Maine Oxy Acetylene Supply, No. 2:20- incv-00326NT (D. Me. Dec. 13, 2022), parties reached a $6.5 million settlement in a case in which plaintiffs contended that the ESOP trustee and the CEO of the company terminated an ESOP at an improperly low price to orchestrate a favorable deal for members of the board to buy back the 49% of the company the ESOP then owned.
Corey Rosen
In Lloyd v. Argent Trust, No. 1:22-cv-04129-DLC (S.D. NY, Dec. 6, 2022), a district court refused to send to arbitration a suit claiming Argent Trust allowed an ESOP to overpay for its purchase of stock in W BBQ at an inflated price.
Corey Rosen
In Stegemann v. Gannett, No. 1:18-cv-00325-AJT-JFA (E.D. Va., Nov. 17, 2022) a district court dismissed a motion for summary judgment from Gannett corporation arguing that plaintiffs could not be certified as a class in a long-running case involving employees at a Gannett spinoff, Tegna.
Corey Rosen
In Plutzer v. Bankers Trust Company of South Dakota et. al., No. 22-561-cv (2nd Cir., Nov. 21, 2022) a court dismissed a claim against Bankers Trust of South Dakota, the trustee for the ESOP at Tharanco Group.
Corey Rosen
In IRS Notice 2022-45, the IRS extended plan amendment deadlines for compliance with two recent laws. These include...
Corey Rosen
In Ahrendsen, et al. v. Prudent Fiduciary Services, LLC, et al., No. 2:21-cv-02157 (E.D., PA, Nov. 7, 2022), the plaintiffs agreed to settle a lawsuit in dispute over the company’s ESOP valuation.
Corey Rosen
In Great American Fidelity Insurance Company v. Stout Risius Ross, Inc. et al., No. 2:19-cv-11294 (E.D. Mi, Nov. 1, 2022), a district court ruled the ESOP valuation firm Stout Risius must pay $60,000 in costs the company argued should have been covered by its insurer, Great American Fidelity Insurance Company.
Corey Rosen
In Walsh v. Robert N. Preston, TPP Holdings, No. 1:14-cv-04122-ELR (N.D. Ga., Sept. 20, 2022), a court ordered TPP Holdings and former owner Robert Preston to restore $540,000 to the ESOP over an alleged overvaluation of shares the plan bought in 2006 and 2008, as well as other violations.
Corey Rosen
In Gamino v. KPC Healthcare Holdings, Inc. et al., No. 5:20-V-01126-SB-SHK (C.D. Cal. Oct. 10, 2022), Alerus agreed to a $4 million settlement with KPC Healthcare in an ERISA valuation case.
Corey Rosen
In Best et al v. James., No. 320-cv-299-JRW (W.D. Ky., Sept. 22, 2022) a court ruled that plaintiffs must agree to arbitrate their claims against executives of ISCO Industries concerning the buyback of company shares from the ESOP. In a prior 2019 decision, Swain v. Wilmington Trust N.A., a federal judge approved a $5 million settlement with a class of employees at ISCO Industries who alleged the ESOP had overpaid for the shares.
