Black employees claiming an industrial baker and the staffing firm it contracted with illegally denied them work have asked an Illinois federal judge for an initial sign-off on a $1 million deal resolving their class action lawsuit after roughly nine years of litigation.
The workers alleged that Gold Standard Baking Inc. and staffing firm Personnel Staffing Group LLC, which operates as Most Valuable Personnel, violated civil rights law by steering Black workers away from GSB to please a client. On Friday, named plaintiffs James Zollicoffer and Norman Green said in their motion for preliminary approval that the defendants’ cash flow problems were a primary reason the parties engaged in mediation, which led to a tentative settlement.
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The workers are represented by Joseph Sellers and Harini Srinivasan of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC; Christopher J. Wilmes and Caryn Lederer of Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym and Christopher Williams of National Legal Advocacy Network.
Read more at Law360.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Firm to file class action E.R.I.S.A. lawsuit to hold Pinnacle West and fiduciaries accountable
Washington, DC – Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, a premier plaintiffs’ class action law firm, is investigating the Pinnacle West Capital Corporation Retirement Plan in anticipation of a potential class action lawsuit. The investigation concerns whether the pension plan is shortchanging married retirees (and their surviving spouses) in violation of the actuarial equivalence requirements of a federal law—the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Retirees of Pinnacle West subsidiaries Arizona Public Service Company and Bright Canyon Energy may be affected.
Pinnacle West Capital Corporation Retirement Plan’s filings with the Department of Labor appear to reflect the plan’s use of mortality tables from 1971.
Cohen Milstein currently represents married retirees in five other class action lawsuits actions alleging that large corporations are illegally shortchanging married retirees (and their surviving spouses) in their monthly pension checks, including against IBM, AT&T, CITGO Petroleum, and Luxottica.
“We are educating retirees that numerous federal courts have confirmed that ERISA requires married retirees to get the same value for their pensions as unmarried retirees. The lawsuits we have filed challenge the practice of shortchanging married retirees on their monthly pension checks.” said Michelle Yau, chair of Cohen Milstein’s Employee Benefits/ERISA practice. To read more about ERISA’s actuarial equivalence requirements, see “Is Your Retirement Plan Imposing a Marriage Penalty? What You Need to Know.”
Impacted Individuals: Cohen Milstein is actively speaking to married retirees (or their surviving spouses) from Pinnacle West, Arizona Public Service, or Bright Canyon Energy who retired on or after October 1, 2016.
Next Steps: If Pinnacle West, Arizona Public Service, or Bright Canyon Energy retirees (or surviving spouses) believe they are a potentially impacted individual, they should contact their legal counsel or contact: Michelle C. Yau, Partner (email) or at 202.408.4600.
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC is a premier class action law firm, handling high-profile and often precedent-setting cases on behalf of plaintiffs. We have more than 100 attorneys practicing out of six offices across the United States. In 2020 and 2021, Cohen Milstein was named Law360’s “Employee Benefits/ERISA Practice Group of the Year.”
Michelle C. Yau, chair of the Cohen Milstein’s Employee Benefits/ERISA practice is licensed to practice in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. Her practice is limited to federal legal matters, such as the federal pension laws that pertain to the Pinnacle West Plan. Ms. Yau’s experience of protecting retirement assets and insight into complex financial transactions and actuarial issues is informed by her Wall Street and Department of Labor experience. In 2021, she was named Law360’s “Employee Benefits MVP – Benefits.”
For additional information, please visit https://www.cohenmilstein.com or call (202) 408-4600.
Contact:
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
1100 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20005
Telephone: 888-240-0775 (Toll Free) or 202-408-4600
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A Maryland federal judge gave her preliminary stamp of approval to three settlements collectively valued at nearly $85 million over allegations that Cargill Meat Solutions, Sanderson Farms and Wayne Farms conspired to depress workers’ wages.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher found Tuesday that the deals between the meat producers and three classes of poultry plant employees were fair and reasonable returns on claims that the companies participated in an industrywide, anti-competitive conspiracy.
“The court finds that the proposed settlements … have been negotiated at arm’s length and are sufficiently fair, reasonable and adequate to authorize dissemination of notice of the settlement agreements to the settlement class,” Judge Gallagher said.
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The workers are represented by Steve W. Berman, Shana E. Scarlett, Rio S. Pierce, Breanna Van Engelen and Abigail D. Pershing of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP; by Benjamin D. Brown, Brent W. Johnson, Daniel Silverman and Alison S. Deich of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC; and by George F. Farah, Rebecca P. Chang, Matthew K. Handley and Stephen Pearson of Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC.
Read the complete story on Law360 (subscription required).
Firm is still signing up retirees in IBM’s Personal Pension Plan
Washington, DC – Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC represents retirees of the IBM Personal Pension Plan (“IBM Plan”) in a class action lawsuit against IBM and the plan administrators. The plaintiffs seek to represent IBM’s married retirees. They allege that for married retirees who began employment before 1999, IBM is shortchanging the retirees (or their surviving spouse) in violation of the actuarial equivalence requirements in a federal law, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
Plaintiffs seek to recover amounts due to these married retirees and their surviving spouses and to reform the IBM Plan to ensure full compliance with the protections of ERISA.
On Friday, September 23, 2022, the plaintiffs filed a letter in federal court urging denial of IBM’s request to formally dismiss the putative class action, Knight v. International Business Machines Corporation, et al., which was originally filed before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on June 2, 2022. An amended complaint was filed on August 19, 2022 to add additional named plaintiffs.
The letter to the court explained that IBM’s “same shop-worn and meritless arguments should be denied” because they have already been rejected by courts around the country adjudicating similar claims.
“This is a really troubling issue for the IBM retirees who are being shortchanged and forced to live on less retirement income every month,” said Michelle Yau, chair of Cohen Milstein’s Employee Benefits/ERISA practice, citing the amended complaint.
Claims: This pension plan ERISA class action asserts claims related to the miscalculation of the joint and survivor annuity paid some IBM retirees who are currently receiving joint and survivor annuity (pensions that provide payments for surviving spouses). To read more about joint and survivor annuities, see “Is Your Retirement Plan Imposing a Marriage Penalty? What You Need to Know.”
Impacted Individuals: Cohen Milstein is actively signing up individuals who began employment with IBM before July 1, 1999.
Next Steps: If IBM Plan participants believe they may have been impacted, they should contact their legal counsel or contact: Michelle C. Yau, Partner (email) or at 202.408.4600 or PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTACT THE FIRM.
About Cohen Milstein’s Employee Benefits/ ERISA Practice
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC is a premier class action law firm, handling high-profile and often precedent-setting cases on behalf of plaintiffs. We have filed numerous ERISA class actions alleging illegal underpayment of pension benefits on behalf of married retirees against large corporations such as AT&T, CITGO Petroleum, and Luxottica. Cohen Milstein was named Law360’s “Employee Benefits/ERISA Practice Group of the Year” in 2020 and 2021. For additional information, please visit cohenmilstein.com or call (202) 408-4600.
Contact:
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
1100 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20005
Telephone: 888-240-0775 (Toll Free) or 202-408-4600
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING
Former President Donald Trump acted outside his presidential duties when he spoke to supporters ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and is not immune from three lawsuits seeking to hold him liable for the attack, lawmakers and police officers have told the D.C. Circuit.
In a joint brief filed Friday, 11 Democratic members of Congress and two U.S. Capitol Police officers sharply criticized Trump’s assertion of absolute immunity from claims he incited the riot that left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer. Trump is appealing a D.C. federal judge’s February ruling that found he must face the three lawsuits, which have been consolidated on appeal.
Trump has argued that the speech he delivered near the White House ahead of the riot was well within the “outer perimeter” of his presidential duties because it focused on matters of public concern, such as election integrity. But the Democratic lawmakers and police officers contend he crossed a line and attempted to influence an act of Congress in which the president is deliberately excluded from participating by the U.S. Constitution.
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Joe Sellers of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, who represents the 10 other Democratic lawmakers suing Trump, added that the Constitution clearly states what presidential acts are considered permissible and impermissible.
“The facts [of the case] demonstrate that Trump acted way outside any permissible duties that could be prescribed to the presidency and, as a result, that he should be held accountable through civil action,” Sellers said.
Read the complete article on Law360. (Subscription required.)
Scientology leader David Miscavige has avoided being served with a summons on at least 14 occasions, a US court has been told, as part of a human-trafficking case brought by three Australian residents.
The allegations emerged in a Florida civil case brought by Australian Gawain Baxter and residents Laura Baxter and Valeska Paris who have claimed they endured horrendous emotional, physical and psychological abuse while in Scientology.
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The lawsuit, backed by US class-action law firms, is regarded as one of the most significant in decades against Scientology, considered by some critics as a dangerous, money-focused cult.
“David Miscavige knows that, in filing this lawsuit, our clients are reclaiming their power and right to fight for full and complete justice,” plaintiff lawyers Ted Leopold of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and Neil Glazer of Kohn Swift said in a joint statement.
“After enduring alleged unspeakable mistreatment at his hands, we intend to hold Mr. Miscavige and others involved fully responsible.”
Chemours wants to expand its manufacturing facility in Bladen County. The company is scheduled to hold two public information meetings to give people an opportunity to learn more about the planned expansion, but some local environment protection organizations are not pleased with the company’s plans.
Ahead of the planned sessions, WWAY spoke with Cape Fear River Watch in Wilmington, and a New Hanover County resident whose well water was found contaminated with PFAS and GenX after Chemours testing in August.
Chemours will hold two public information session about its plans to expand its manufacturing capabilities at the Fayetteville Works site in Bladen County. The sessions will be held from 5pm-7pm at Bladen Community College on September 20, and at the Leland Cultural Arts Center on September 21.
Families suing banana grower Chiquita Brands International for its alleged role in funding paramilitary death squads in Colombia will be able to proceed with their case after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta last week unanimously reversed a Florida district court summary judgment and reinstated the historic claims.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra of the Southern District of Florida in West Palm Beach had denied class status and dismissed a handful of individual plaintiffs’ cases in 2019.
“As to the merits, we hold that most of the bellwether plaintiffs presented sufficient evidence to withstand summary judgment with respect to whether the AUC was responsible for the deaths of their decedents,” wrote Eleventh Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan, referring to the United Self-Defenses of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia).
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EarthRights’ co-counsel includes Paul L. Hoffman of Schonbrun Seplow Harris Hoffman & Zeldes, who argued the appeal; Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll; and attorneys Judith Brown Chomsky, Anthony DiCaprio and Arturo Carrillo.
Agnieszka Fryszman, plaintiffs’ counsel at Cohen Milstein, said in a statement: “This is a very important case for corporate accountability. Chiquita has already admitted it paid over a million dollars to the AUC, a paramilitary group designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States.”
Cargill Meat Solutions, Sanderson Farms and Wayne Farms will pay a combined total of $84.8 million to settle allegations the poultry companies illegally conspired to keep their wages low, according to a proposed agreement filed in Maryland federal court.
Specifically, Cargill will pay $15 million, Sanderson will pay $38.3 million and Wayne will pay $31.5 million to settlement classes of workers. Under the deals, the companies have also agreed to cooperate with the workers in their case against the remaining defendant companies in the litigation, the workers said in a motion for preliminary approval filed Friday.
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The workers had accused the poultry processors of holding clandestine meetings and sharing information in an effort to keep wages low for hundreds of thousands of workers at their facilities. The companies named in the 2019 suit own and run roughly 200 poultry plants in the U.S., according to the complaint.
The poultry workers have already settled with several other companies, and, to date, they’ve recovered a total of $134.6 million, according to Friday’s filing.
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The workers are represented by Steve W. Berman, Shana E. Scarlett, Rio S. Pierce, Breanna Van Engelen and Abigail D. Pershing of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Benjamin D. Brown, Brent W. Johnson, Daniel Silverman and Alison S. Deich of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, and George F. Farah, Rebecca P. Chang, Matthew K. Handley and Stephen Pearson of Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC.
A class of current and former poultry workers who alleged major U.S. chicken processors conspired to suppress wages has asked a Maryland federal court to approve $84.8 million in new settlements, pushing the total recovery so far in the litigation to more than $134 million.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher on Friday to grant preliminary approval of a settlement resolving civil antitrust claims against Sanderson Farms Inc, Wayne Farms LLC and Cargill Meat Solutions Corp, three of the largest U.S. poultry processors.
Sanderson, based in Laurel, Mississippi, agreed to $38.3 million, and Wayne Farms, based in Oakwood, Georgia, said it would pay $31.5 million to resolve allegations. Minneapolis-based Cargill agreed to pay $15 million.
The companies denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlements.
Lawyers for the private class plaintiffs at law firms Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll on Monday did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Cargill in a statement said, “we are pleased to put the cost and distraction of litigation behind us.”
Defense attorneys and representatives from Sanderson and Wayne did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
The preliminary approval push comes after the U.S. Justice Department in a separate federal settlement in July with the three defendants who said they would pay restitution to poultry workers in the pending private class action.
The U.S. in its lawsuit alleged a scheme in which chicken processors shared wage and benefits information to curb competition. The defendants agreed to the imposition of a 10-year compliance monitor.
In the private case, the plaintiffs’ lawyers in their court filing said “these settlements are beyond fair; they are an excellent result for the class.”
The poultry workers’ lawyers said “continuing to litigate this case against settling defendants would have required significant additional resources and materially increased the complexity of the case.”
The settlements “secured extensive cooperation obligations” that “will materially strengthen” the plaintiffs’ claims against remaining defendants, the class attorneys said.