Roofing Company, GreatBanc Must Face Worker Stock Plan Lawsuit

Central States Manufacturing Inc. employees advanced a proposed class action saying they were damaged by a 2020 transaction that diluted the value of their shares in the roofing company’s employee stock ownership plan.

The employees plausibly alleged the stock plan suffered an injury when the company, aided by plan trustee GreatBanc Trust Co., overpaid for certain redeemed shares and that they personally suffered a financial injury by seeing their shares diluted in value, Judge Timothy L. Brooks said in a July 5 opinion. Central States disputed the employees’ characterization of the transaction as “exaggerated and incorrect,” but that’s not ...