Zuckerman Spaeder LLP Wins $19 Million Settlement in Fisco v. First Mercantile Trust Co. Pension Plan Class Action Litigation

Zuckerman Spaeder successfully negotiated a $19 million class action settlement in federal court litigation in Memphis, Tennessee, on behalf of 2,500 pension plans. The complaint alleged that the plans were victimized by a fraudulent fee overcharge scheme after they entrusted their pension plan assets to First Mercantile Trust Company and its affiliated entities, subsidiaries of one of the largest bank holding companies in Memphis.

Beginning in 1998, according to the complaint, undisclosed and unauthorized fees were deducted from pension plan assets placed in a collective investment trust managed and promoted by defendants. The settlement provided for a recovery of over $19 million to the plans, and the court ordered changes in the operations of the collective investment trusts and pension management programs offered by First Mercantile Trust Co.

"The settlement is a significant recovery for class members," said Graeme W. Bush, lead counsel in the case and Chairman of Zuckerman Spaeder's Partnership Board and Executive Committee. "It will go a long way toward making the plans that participated in the defendants' investment management program whole. Overall, we are very pleased with the outcome."

The class is represented by Zuckerman Spaeder attorneys Graeme W. Bush, David A. Reiser, and Cy Smith. Memphis-based Glassman Edwards Wade & Wyatt, P.C. served as co-counsel for the class.