BP Loses Bid to Cut 4,700 Retirees From Pension Class Action

BP Corp. NA’s effort to remove nearly 4,700 retirees from a class action challenging pension changes tied to a corporate acquisition fell flat when a Texas federal judge concluded that these retirees’ claims weren’t barred by an earlier lawsuit.

BP argued that more than half of the 6,700 class members are covered by a $71 million settlement agreement negotiated two decades ago because they took lump sum pension distributions between 1989 and 2002.

Judge George C. Hanks Jr. disagreed in a Jan. 20 order. The prior case, Nichols v. BP Am. Ret. Accumulation Plan, turned on BP’s methodology ...