NEW YORK, Oct. 29 2004 LAWFUEL – Class action, lawsuit, legal, law, law firm news — On October 29, 2004, Wolf Haldenstein
Adler Freeman & Herz LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the United States
District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, on behalf of all
participants and beneficiaries of the 401(k) Savings Plan (the “Plan”) of Aon
Corporation (“Aon” or the “Company”) (NYSE: AOC), between November 1, 1998 and
the present, inclusive (the “Class Period”), against defendant Aon and certain
officers and directors of the Company.
A copy of the Complaint is available from the Court, or can be viewed on
the Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP website at http://www.whafh.com.
The Complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Plan fiduciaries knew
or should have known, that the Company was paying illegal and concealed
“contingent commissions” pursuant to illegal “contingent commission
agreements;” that violated applicable principles of fiduciary law, subjecting
the Company to enormous fines and penalties totaling potentially tens — if
not hundreds — of millions of dollars.
Plan fiduciaries knew, or should have known, that this business practice
was improper and unsustainable and that the value of the Company’s stock, and
thus the value of the Plan, was based on financial results dependent on these
unsustainable business practices.
By no later than November 1, 1998, AON and the Individual Defendants knew,
or should have known, that AON’s stock was a highly inappropriate investment
for a long-term retirement savings plan such as the Plan because of the
financial issues described above and other questionable business practices.
Despite this, Defendants continued to offer AON’s stock as a Plan investment
alternative, continued to cause AON matching contributions to be invested in
AON stock, and failed to impute their full knowledge of the Company’s
operations on Plan participants so that the Plan participants could make an
informed decision concerning their Plan investments in Company stock.
If you were a participant or a beneficiary of the Plan, you may retain
Wolf Haldenstein, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in
this action.
Wolf Haldenstein has extensive experience in the prosecution of securities
class actions and derivative litigation in state and federal trial and
appellate courts across the country. The firm has approximately 60 attorneys
in various practice areas; and offices in Chicago, New York City, San Diego,
and West Palm Beach. The reputation and expertise of this firm in financially
oriented class litigation has been repeatedly recognized by the courts, which
have appointed it to major positions in complex securities multi-district and
consolidated litigation.
If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions, please contact
Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP at 270 Madison Avenue, New York, New
York 10016, by telephone at (800) 575-0735 or (212) 545-4600 (Fred Taylor
Isquith, Esq., Mark C. Rifkin, Esq. or Gustavo Bruckner, Esq.), via e-mail at
classmember@whafh.com or visit our website at http://www.whafh.com. All e-mail
correspondence should make reference to Aon ERISA.
Web Site: http://www.whafh.com
