Buckles-Smith Gets Final OK in $350K Deal Over ESOP Termination

Buckles-Smith Electric Co. and its executives won final approval of a $350,000 settlement in a dispute by employee stock ownership plan participants who allegedly suffered losses when the plan was terminated (Schwartz v. Art Cook, 2017 BL 228043, N.D. Cal., No. 5:15-cv-03347-BLF, 6/30/17).

The participants’ request for final approval of a class settlement was granted June 30 by Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Freeman also granted $115,500 in attorneys’ fees and $25,000 in costs to class counsel, holding that both fees and costs were “eminently fair and reasonable ...