BP Pension Plan Conversion Challenge Moves Toward Class Status

A lawsuit accusing BP Corp. NA of failing to properly explain how its acquisition of Standard Oil of Ohio would negatively affect pension benefits got a boost when a federal magistrate judge in Houston recommended that the case be certified as a class action covering hundreds of retirees.

BP challenges the proposed class definition—which includes hundreds of participants in the BP America Retirement Accumulation Plan who ended up with lower pension benefits because of a 1989 plan change—by arguing that “individualized mini trials” involving complex pension calculations would be required to determine each plan participant’s status as a class member. ...