SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 22, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Earlier this year, former and current Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) employees began enjoying the benefits of a $67.76 million settlement that Ronald S. Kravitz negotiated in an ERISA class action against the drug store chain. Mr. Kravitz didn't stop there. He continued his work on behalf of employee benefit plan participants by prosecuting cases involving the Reliance Insurance Company and APL Limited (formerly known as American President Companies, Ltd.).
Mr. Kravitz, a partner in the San Francisco office of Liner Yankelevitz Sunshine & Regenstreif LLP, obtained a $5 million settlement for participants and beneficiaries of the Reliance Savings Incentive Plan in LaManna, et al. v. Steinberg, et al., Case No. 01-CV-3571 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 6, 2004).*
The settlement is especially impressive because Reliance Insurance Company is in liquidation. In recent years it was discovered that, although the company was paying dividends to its officers and directors, the company actually was not profitable and was heavily encumbered by debt. The controversy surrounding Saul Steinberg, who served as a Reliance officer and board member, was detailed in the January 2001 issue of Vanity Fair. The price of Reliance stock fell from approximately $15 per share in early 1998 to $0.02 in 2001.
The Plaintiffs in LaManna alleged that, although the employee benefit plan fiduciaries knew or should have known it was no longer prudent for the plan to hold company stock, they failed to protect the plan and plan participants from enormous losses.
Mr. Kravitz and his partner, Kim Zeldin, tackled another ERISA class action in Keehner v. APL Retirement Account Plan, et al., Case No. C 03-1973 (N.D. Ca. Oct. 1, 2004).(1) The Liner lawyers obtained a $1.125 million settlement for plan participants who elected to take their benefits in the form of a lump sum and did not receive the cost-of-living adjustment they would have received had they elected to receive their benefits in the form of an annuity. Because of the settlement, an amendment was made to the plan so that, in the future, plan participants who elect a lump-sum benefit will receive a cost-of-living adjustment.
"This is an example of how class actions ought to work," Judge William H. Alsup told class members at the fairness hearing. "You didn't have to do a thing except fill out a postcard, and you're going to get a lot of money...tell your friends when they complain about lawyers what a good job happened in this case."
(1) Contact information for co-counsel available upon request.