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As seen on FARS News Agency
Published: 1/7/2015
No other area of employment workplace law saw that kind of explosive growth last year. In fact, settlement numbers in other areas of workplace class-action claims were down, according to the 2015 Workplace Class Action Litigation Report, published by Seyfarth Shaw, a Chicago-based law firm.
The settlement figures for the biggest ERISA cases were higher in 2014 than at any other time in recent history. In 2011, sponsors settled nearly $900 million in the largest cases, the only time since 2009 when the figures were remotely close to last year’s record numbers.
Settlement figures for other areas of labor law paled in comparison: $215 million was settled in wage and hour class-actions, and about $228 million in employee discrimination cases.
By the close of 2014, ERISA lawsuits totaled 7,163, down marginally from 2013. Several mega-settlements pushed the ERISA tab for the 10 largest settlements beyond the billion-dollar mark. Among them:
In August 2014, a $480 million settlement was reached in Meyers vs. Daimier Trucks North America LLC, in a class-action filed by retired UAW workers alleging the truck manufacturer illegally cut benefits.
The next month, a $415 million settlement was approved in Healthcare Strategies Inc. vs. ING Life Insurance & Annuity Co.
And in December, a tentative $140 million settlement was reached in Haddock vs. Nationwide after 13 years of litigation. It’s believed to be the largest ever in a service-provider revenue-sharing case.
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