Caroline E. Bressman

Current Cases

AT&T Pension Benefit Plan Litigation

Scott, et al. v. AT&T Inc. (N.D. Cal.): Cohen Milstein represents participants and beneficiaries in the AT&T Pension Benefit Plan who allege that AT&T failed comply with ERISA’s actuarial equivalence requirements when providing married participants joint and survivor annuities.

B-K Lighting Inc. ESOP Litigation

Chea v. Lite Star ESOP Committee, et al. (E.D. Cal.): Cohen Milstein is representing participants in the Lite Star employee stock option plan in a putative ERISA class action. Plaintiff alleges that Prudent Fiduciary Services and Miguel Paredes, on behalf of the Lite Star ESOP, improperly negotiated and purchased 100% of B-K Lighting stock from Douglas W. Hagen, the chairman of B-K Lighting, for over $25 million, an overly inflated price, in violation of ERISA. Plaintiff also claims that the company’s board of directors and members of the ESOP Committee breached their fiduciary duties to the ESOP and that Prudent Fiduciary Services and Miguel Parades have permitted the Hagen Family defendants to continue to operate B-K Lighting as their personal piggy bank.

Envision Management Holding, Inc. ESOP Litigation

Harrison v. Envision Management Holding, Inc. Board of Directors, et al. (D. Col.): Cohen Milstein represents Envision Management Holding ESOP participants, who allege the ESOP purchased Envision Management Holding stock at an inflated price, causing a multi-million-dollar loss to the ESOP. On February 9, 2023, A three-judge panel for the Tenth Circuit, in a 41-page published opinion, sided with Plaintiffs' argument, which was backed up by a U.S. Department of Labor amicus brief, that an arbitration provision tucked in Envision workers' ESOP plan impermissibly blocked remedies under ERISA, triggering an exemption in the Federal Arbitration Act, which permits a court to overrule an arbitration agreement if it blocks a party from being able to bring claims under federal law. On October 10, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Defendants’ petition to review the Tenth Circuit’s decision, thereby affirming the lower court’s March 24, 2022 ruling, which denied Defendants’ motion to compel arbitration.

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Past Cases

Triad Manufacturing, Inc. ESOP Litigation

Smith v. GreatBanc Trust Company, et al. (N.D. Ill.): Cohen Milstein represented participants and beneficiaries in the Triad Manufacturing ESOP who alleged that the ESOP's trustees breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the sale of Triad Manufacturing to the ESOP. In September 2021, the Seventh Circuit, in a precedent-setting decision, cited an exception to the Federal Arbitration Act that permits a court to overrule an arbitration agreement if it blocks a party from being able to bring claims under federal law. On August 23, 2023, the Court granted final approval of a $14.8 million settlement and granted class certification.

World Travel ESOP Litigation

Ahrendsen et al. v. Prudent Fiduciary Services. et al. (E.D. Pa.): Cohen Milstein represented a certified class of employee stock option plan participants and beneficiaries who allege that the founders of World Travel and the ESOP trustees created the ESOP and then sold 100% of the employees World Travel stock to the ESOP at an above-market price, saddling it with over $200 million in debt. On June 22, 2023, the Court granted plaintiffs unopposed motion for class certification and final approval of a $8.7 million settlement.

Minnesota Super Lawyers Rising Star (2023)