LAWFUEL – Press Release Service – On July 11, 2006, the Firm won the dismissal of a consolidated ERISA putative class action filed against American Electric Power. The dismissal of this ERISA action culminated four years of litigation in which the Firm successfully achieved the dismissal of each of a large number of litigations filed against AEP, including federal court securities class actions, state and federal court derivative actions, and federal court ERISA actions.
In its Order in the ERISA action, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio denied the Motion for Class Certification filed by an ERISA plaintiff who sought to represent a putative sub-class of participants in the AEP Retirement Savings Plan and alleged that AEP breached its fiduciary duties to the Plan by offering AEP stock as an investment option under the plan and failing to disclose material information regarding the stock. The Court found that the proposed class representative lacked standing under ERISA Section 502(a)(2). The Court accordingly denied class certification and dismissed the action for lack of standing.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Michael Chepiga, Joe McLaughlin, George Wang, Charlie Divine, Issa Mikel and paralegals Mario Hyacinth and Tracy Williams.
Lawyers:
• Michael J. Chepiga
• Charlie L. Divine
• Joseph M. McLaughlin
• Issa Mikel
• George S. Wang
