NEW YORK, Dec. 1, 2006 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Class Counsel who have filed a class action complaint against the pension plan maintained by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) on behalf of all participants in the JP Morgan Chase Retirement Plan, In re J.P. Morgan Chase Cash Balance Litigation, today announce that the Honorable Judge Harold Baer, Jr. has denied JP Morgan's motion to dismiss the case. In an opinion dated October 30, 2006, United States District Court Judge Baer of the Southern District of New York upheld the Plaintiffs' claim that the JPMorgan Chase "cash balance" formula pension plan discriminates based on age, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA"), allowing plaintiffs' claim to proceed. Judge Baer ruled that under a cash balance plan, "the age discrimination arises because . . . older workers accrue their retirement benefits at a slower rate than similarly situated younger workers." The Court also upheld Plaintiffs' claims that the JP Morgan Chase Retirement Plan failed to provide participants with adequate notice when implementing the cash balance formulas for the Plan and its predecessors.
The consolidated ERISA complaint against the JP Morgan Chase Retirement Plan was filed on June 23, 2006 by several former JPMorgan Chase and predecessor company employees on behalf of all participants in the JPMorgan Chase Retirement Plan and the predecessor cash balance plans merged into it. The merged plans include cash balance plans formerly maintained by:
-- Bank One Corporation; -- Chase Manhattan Bank; -- Chemical Bank; -- First Chicago NBD Corporation; -- First USA Bank; and -- Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York.
If you are a current or former participant in the JPMorgan Chase Retirement Plan or any of the merged plans described above, and you would like more information about this case, you may contact paralegal Jennifer Tuato'o at 800/776-6044, or via e-mail at ERISAclaim@kellerrohrback.com. For information about the case, including Court rulings and the current ERISA complaint, visit: www.erisafraud.com.
The attorneys representing Plaintiffs in this proposed class action -- Keller Rohrback L.L.P. (Seattle, WA), Kirby McInerney & Squire, L.L.P. (New York, NY), Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP (Radnor, PA), and Edgar Pauk, Esq. (New York, NY) -- all have substantial experience in class action litigation and complex ERISA litigation on behalf of workers.