March 9, 2026
A New York-based barbecue chain’s executives and the caretaker of the company’s employee stock ownership plan have agreed to settle a class action from workers alleging ESOP mismanagement, the parties told a New York federal court Monday.
U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote endorsed the joint notice of settlement and request for a stay later on Monday in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit. A certified class of participants in the W BBQ Holdings Inc. ESOP filed the notice jointly with defendants Argent Trust Co., as well as Herbert Wetanson and Gregor Wetanson, the president and vice president of W BBQ Holdings Inc. The notice said that following mediation, the parties had “reached an agreement in principle to settle the … matter on a class basis.”
Workers for W BBQ Holdings Inc. filed suit in 2022, accusing Argent and the Wetansons of violating federal benefits law and costing workers millions in retirement savings by letting them pay too much for their employer’s stock in a $99 million deal in 2016. W BBQ is a holding company for Dallas BBQ, a chain of restaurants in New York City.
Judge Cote’s endorsed order gave the parties until March 13 to provide the court with an executed settlement agreement or “place the terms of the settlement on the record” on March 16.
The case had been set for trial beginning March 16, court records showed, with the class requesting assurance from the court in February that a $15 million deal between the DOL, Argent and the Wetansons in a separate enforcement case wouldn’t affect proceedings in the class action.
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Michelle C. Yau, an attorney for the class, told Law360: “The settlement represents an excellent recovery for Dallas BBQ ESOP participants, and we commend the class representatives for their persistence and dedication to the class.”
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The class is represented by Michelle C. Yau, Kai H. Richter, Daniel R. Sutter, Caroline E. Bressman, Ryan A. Wheeler, Elizabeth McDermott and Michael Eisenkraft of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.