June 30, 2026
A California federal judge stayed deadlines Tuesday in a federal benefits class action against a plumbing company and the caretakers of its defunct employee stock ownership plan that was set for trial in September, after the parties said they’d settled their dispute Monday following mediation.
U.S. District Judge Kenly Kiya Kato docketed an order staying deadlines in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit against Ampam Parks Mechanical Inc., ESOP trustee Ventura Trust Co. and other company defendants from a class of Ampam ESOP participants. Judge Kato’s order responded to a joint report and stipulation from the parties filed Monday asking the court to adjourn several major deadlines in the case, including a bench trial that was set to begin in September. According to its website, Ampam started out as a family-owned plumbing business and has since expanded to also provide mechanical and electrical engineering services.
Current Ampam employee Alfredo Ramirez and former employee Ramón Santos Castro filed suit in May 2024, alleging Ampam, Ventura Trust, its owner Neil Brozen and other selling shareholders who had invested in Ampam breached their fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty and caused prohibited transactions by structuring a $247 million sale of company stock to the ESOP in 2019.
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The proposed class of ESOP participants are represented by Michelle C. Yau, Daniel R. Sutter, Allison C. Pienta and Ryan A. Wheeler of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.