Seeger Weiss Lead Counsel In ERISA Class Action On Behalf of Delta Pilots
Seeger Weiss Serves as Lead Counsel in Nationwide ERISA Class Action on Behalf of Delta Pilots
Seeger Weiss served as Lead Counsel in nationwide ERISA litigation consolidated in Federal court in Atlanta, Georgia. The Firm represented thousands of active and retired Delta Air Lines pilots in a class action challenging various company pension plan amendments and practices that caused them to forfeit accrued and vested pension benefits. Plaintiffs challenged, among other things, the methodology employed by Delta in calculating and paying lump sums of pension benefits to pilots, the company's retroactive freeze of a benefit formula previously pegged to increases in investment performance, and automatic reductions of pension benefits of married retirees hired before 1972.
In September 2005 the Federal court in Atlanta granted final approval to a class action settlement providing for payment of $16 million in cash to certain retired Delta pilots hired before 1972 or their spouses or beneficiaries and 1 million stock purchase warrants to lump sum pension benefits recipients. The settlements represented a significant recovery, with the court's final approval coming only days before Delta Air Lines filed for bankruptcy protection. Seeger Weiss has continued to represent Plaintiffs and class members through a number of twists and turns in the bankruptcy proceedings and beyond, and vigorously fought for and secured the complete and final distribution of all settlement proceeds to the class members.
