News & Events

On September 8, 2008, the Firm successfully opposed a Motion for Class Certification in a consolidated ERISA action filed against American Electric Power and certain officers and directors. While noting that the burden on a named plaintiff to establish that he or she is an adequate class representative is not high, and despite the fact that it is somewhat unusual for a court to deny class certification on the basis of inadequacy, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio agreed with the AEP Defendants that the proposed class representative was not an adequate class representative under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. The underlying lawsuit alleged that the AEP Defendants breached their fiduciary duties to the Plan by offering AEP stock as an investment option under the plan and by failing to disclose material information regarding the stock.

The Simpson Thacher team includes Michael Chepiga, Joe McLaughlin, George Wang, Charlie Divine, Jessica Chan and paralegal Mario Hyacinth.