News & Events

On July 15, 2010, Judge Denise Cote of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York approved a classwide resolution of all remaining claims in a series of ERISA cases against Firm clients the JPMorgan Chase Retirement Plan and its administrator. The complaints in In re JPMorgan Chase Case Balance Litigation and Bilello v. JPMorgan Chase Retirement Plan, et al. alleged ERISA violations arising from the conversion to and use of a cash balance formula to calculate pension benefits for participants in the JPMorgan Chase Retirement Plan and certain predecessor plans. The resolution represents the successful conclusion of the litigation which began more than four years ago.

A substantial number of the claims in these cases were previously dismissed as a result of a series of motions brought by the Firm. After other claims were certified for class action treatment, Judge Cote set them for trial in March 2009, but shortly before the trial plaintiffs agreed to voluntarily dismiss those claims with prejudice and for no consideration. The settlement approved on July 15, 2010 dismisses all remaining and proposed ERISA-related claims against JPMorgan (as successor to Chase Manhattan Bank, Chemical Bank and Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company) over a dozen-year period for no monetary recovery. JPMorgan will provide class members with access to a financial planning assistance program and agreed to pay up to $600,000 in plaintiffs’ counsel’s expenses (but no fees). In approving the settlement, Judge Cote noted that the defendants had demonstrated that legal theories asserted by plaintiffs in the actions were “fundamentally flawed.”

Simpson Thacher litigators Tom Rice and Jon Youngwood handled the litigation, and were assisted by a team led by Helena Almeida.