Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne, LLC, is counsel in a number of class action lawsuits. As a service to class members and others who may be interested, we provide periodic updates on the status of the litigation.

Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado -- Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents PERA retirees in a class action case challenging the replacement of a 3.5% annual increase with a 2% capped COLA.  The case is pending in state District Court in Denver.

• Copy of Complaint-- filed February 26, 2010
• Press Release on Filing of Complaint
• Attorney General Formal Opinion No. 04-4

401(k)/Pension Class Actions 

AK Steel Corporation – Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents retirees of AK Steel’s plant in Sharon, Pennsylvania who claim that their lump-sum pension distributions were miscalculated.  The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Boeing – Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents former Boeing employees whose employment with Boeing ended when Boeing sold its commercial facility in Wichita, Kansas to Spirit Aerosystems.  The suit alleges that the sale triggered the employees’ rights to early retirement and healthcare benefits pursuant to the employee benefit plans and collective bargaining agreements between the employees’ unions and Boeing.  The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas has certified a class of employees who went to work for Spirit Aerosystems following the sale and the case is in the discovery phase of litigation. 

First Horizon National Corporation – Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne is lead counsel representing participants in the First Horizon National Corporation 401(k) Plan to recover losses to the Plan’s assets.  The suit alleges that fiduciaries of the Plan violated ERISA by imprudently investing in First Horizon stock while the company was concealing its large exposure to highly risky Collateralized Debt Obligations, subprime mortgages, and other low-quality securities.   The suit also alleges that the Plan did not properly consider investment options besides mutual funds owned by First Horizon.  The United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee recently denied Defendant's motion to dismiss the breach of fiduciary duty claims and the case is now proceeding to the discovery phase.

KV Pharmaceutical - Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne is co-lead interim counsel representing participants in the KV Pharmaceutical 401(k) to recover losses to the Plan's assets.  The suit alleges that fiduciaries of the Plans violated ERISA by imprudently investing in KV stock while the company was concealing its manufacturing problems. The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Northrop Grumman - Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents former employees of Northrop Grumman seeking class certification and alleging that the company improperly calculated the pension benefits of former employees of Litton Industries, which was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2001. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted the company’s motion for summary judgment but this decision was overturned on appeal by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case has now been remanded back to the District Court for further proceedings.

PFF Bancorp - Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne is co-lead interim counsel representing participants in the PFF Bancorporation 401(k) and Employee Stock Ownership Plans to recover losses to the Plans' assets. The suit alleges that fiduciaries of the Plans violated ERISA by imprudently investing in PFF stock while the company was concealing its loan losses. The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Regions Financial Corporation - Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne is co-lead interim counsel representing participants in the Regions Financial 401(k) Plan to recover losses to the Plan’s assets. The suit alleges that fiduciaries of the Plan violated ERISA by imprudently investing in Regions stock while the company was concealing Regions Financial’s large exposure to highly risky Collateralized Debt Obligations, subprime mortgages, and other poor-quality securities. The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

Sovereign Bancorporation - Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents participants in the Sovereign Bancorporation 401(k) Plan over losses to the Plan’s assets. The suit alleges that fiduciaries of the Plan violated ERISA by imprudently investing in Sovereign stock while the company was concealing Sovereign’s large exposure to highly risky Collateralized Debt Obligations, subprime mortgages, and other poor-quality securities. The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Waste Management- Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents participants in the Waste Management Profit Sharing and Savings Plan over losses to the Plan’s assets. The suit alleges that fiduciaries of the Plan violated ERISA by imprudently investing in Waste Management stock while the company was misstating its true financial condition.  In March 2009, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia denied most of the defendants’ motion to dismiss and the case is now in the discovery phase.

Public Employee Retirement Class Actions 

Massachusetts Public Pension System -  Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents participants in the Massachusetts Public Pension Systems whose pension benefits were reduced as a result of recent legislation.   The case is currently pending in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

New Hampshire Retirement System I -- Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents retired state workers whose pensions were recently reduced to pay for retiree health benefit premiums. The suit alleges that the pension reductions violate the Contract Clause of the United States and New Hampshire Constitution, as well as provision of the New Hampshire Constitution prohibiting the diversion of pension benefits.  The case is currently pending in Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord.

New Hampshire Retirement System II -- Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents retired state workers whose retirement benefits were recently reduced due to changes in the definition of "earnable compensation," the reduction of cost-of-living adjustments and the reduction in the yearly increase to the health care subsidy.  The suit alleges that these changes violate the Contract Clause of the United States and New Hampshire Constitution.  The case is currently pending in Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord.

Veterans Administration- Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents retired VA nurses whose pension benefits were wrongly calculated. The Merit Protection Service Board recently ruled in favor of the nurses.

Retiree Health Class Actions

Caterpillar - Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents Caterpillar/United Auto Workers retirees who had their health benefits reduced. The case is currently pending in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Century Aluminum -- Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents retirees of the Century Aluminum plant in
Ravenswood, West Virginia who had their health benefits cut or elminated.   The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

NewPage -- Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents retirees and their spouses from the company’s plants in Wisconsin who are having their retiree health benefits phased out  The case is pending before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Insurance Class Actions

BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois - In July 2008, Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne brought a class action suit against Health Care Service Corporation (d/b/a BlueCross Blue Shield of Illinois, BlueCross Blue Shield of New Mexico, BlueCross Blue Shield of Oklahoma, and BlueCross Blue Shield of Texas) alleging that policyholders have been forced to make co-payments in excess of what is permitted under the terms of the plans. The case is pending in the United States District Court for Northern District of Illinois.

Consumer Class Actions

PNC Bank -- Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents PNC Bank consumers in an action regarding the bank's practice of rearranging the chronological order of a customer's debit charges to the customer checking account so that the highest charges are subtracted from available funds before lower charges in order to increase the numbers of overdrafts for customers in an effort to increase revenues.  The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Dsitrict of New Jersey.

Wage and Overtime Collective Actions

Velocity Express - Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne represents drivers in Pennsylvania who claim they were misclassified as independent contractors and subjected to unlawful wage deductions and denied other benefits of employment. The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.