|
Noll Manufacturing
The United States District Court
for the Eastern District of California (the "Court") has preliminarily approved
the Settlement of this case, and has scheduled a hearing (the "Fairness
Hearing") to evaluate the fairness and adequacy of the Settlement at which the
Court will consider (i) whether to approve the Settlement as fair and adequate;
(ii) whether to enter the Bar Order (see Question 4 below); (iii) whether to
approve the Plan of Allocation (see Question 5 below); and (iv) whether to award
attorneys' fees and expenses to Plaintiffs' Counsel and incentive awards to
Plaintiffs (see Question 8 below). The Fairness Hearing, before the Hon. Ralph
R. Beistline, has been scheduled for March 5, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. at the United
States District Court for the Eastern District of California, Robert T. Matsui
United States Courthouse, 501 I Street, Sacramento, California.
The terms of the Settlement are
contained in a Settlement Agreement (the "Settlement Agreement"), a copy of
which is available here under Document Links or by contacting Plaintiffs'
Counsel identified below. Capitalized and italicized terms used in this Notice
and not defined herein have the meanings assigned to them in the Settlement
Agreement.
The Allegations:
In the Action, Plaintiffs
allege, among other things, that the Defendants CRC, DRJ and REE were
fiduciaries of the Plans and directors of TEOHC and violated fiduciary duties
under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") and under
applicable state law by permitting certain payments to CRC. Plaintiffs sought to
recover from the losses to the Plans allegedly caused by the fiduciary breaches.
Defendants deny that they have
any liability whatsoever or that they breached any fiduciary duties. If the
litigation were to continue, Defendants would raise numerous defenses to
liability, including the following:
-
They were not fiduciaries as
alleged by Plaintiffs, or, if they were fiduciaries, their fiduciary duties
did not extend to the matters at issue in the Action;
-
To the extent they were
fiduciaries as to the matters at issue in the Action, they fully discharged
all fiduciary duties in a manner wholly consistent with applicable law;
-
The relief sought by the
Plaintiffs in the Action is not permitted under applicable law; and
-
Plaintiffs were not damaged.
The Parties have engaged in
extensive discovery and motion practice, including multiple motions by
Defendants to dismiss the Action. Plaintiffs successfully sought and obtained
injunctions with respect to the payment of substantial amounts sought by
Defendants from TEOHC pursuant to alleged indemnity rights, and the expenditure
or transfer by CRC of certain assets; the injunction was appealed to the Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals and was affirmed on appeal.
This Settlement is the product
of intense, arm's-length negotiations between Plaintiffs' Counsel, the DOL, and
Defendants and their counsel, including a two-day mediation facilitated by the
Hon. Kimberly Mueller, United States Magistrate Judge, pursuant to which the
terms of the Settlement were established.
Any questions regarding the
Settlement should be directed to Plaintiffs' Counsel: Gary Gotto or Gary
Greenwald, Keller Rohrback P.L.C., 3101 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1400, Phoenix,
Arizona 85012, tel: 602-248-0088 (counsel for Plaintiffs Johnson,
Stanton, Morrell and Rangell), Terence Devine, Devine, Markovits & Snyder, LLP,
52 Corporate Circle, Albany, New York 12203, tel: 518-464-0640 or Stanley H.
Shayne, Shayne Nichols LLC, Two Miranova Place, Suite 220, Columbus, Ohio 43215
tel: 614-221-2220 (counsel for Plaintiff Rodwell). Plaintiffs' Counsel
have established a toll-free phone number, (800) 236-8134, if you have
questions or comments. Plaintiffs' Counsel may also be contacted via email (info@kellerrohrback.com).
Please do not contact the Court, as Court personnel will not be able to answer
your questions. |
