We filed an ERISA class action in the Central District of California against Fremont General Corporation. The lawsuit seeks class action status on behalf of participants in two of Fremont's pension plans, the Fremont General Corporation Employee Stock Ownership Plan and the Fremont General Corporation and Affiliated Companies Investment Incentive Plan.
The class period alleged in the complaint is from January 1, 2005 to the present time.
The seven named plaintiffs in the case claim that Fremont and the other named defendants in the case breached their fiduciary duties by allowing the investment of employee-participant account balances in Fremont stock and by other related acts. The complaint alleges that employee-participants have suffered millions of dollars in losses to their retirement savings.
For additional information, please contact Jon Tostrud.
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United Seniors Association v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., Case No. 06-2447 (U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit)
National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, the Medicare Rights Center, et al. v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., Case No. 09-2321 (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit)
We are lead counsel to the National Committee, one of the leading organizations defending Social Security and Medicare, and to the Medicare Rights Center, the largest national consumer service organization that helps older adults and people with disabilities secure the health care coverage to which they are entitled.
These two public interest organizations, acting as a "private attorney general," seek billions of dollars in Medicare fees from the major cigarette companies for money spent on smokers with Medicare benefits. A federal statute requires the insurers of those who injure Medicare beneficiaries to pay for the medical expenses necessitated by those injuries first, with Medicare being an insurer of last resort.
The suit alleges that these companies concealed and manipulated the biochemically addictive character of nicotine in their cigarettes in order to "hook" smokers; therefore, Medicare beneficiaries were unaware that smoking would expose them to such an addictive chemical when they began smoking. As a result, taxpayers, through Medicare, have paid for billions of dollars of medical costs for which the cigarette companies should have been responsible.
Jurisdictional questions under the federal statute have dominated the litigation, which is now on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
For additional information, please contact Robert J. Cynkar.
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