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You have reached the Richards v. FleetBoston Financial Corp. settlement
website. The settlement was approved by the court on October 15, 2008 and that
approval was reflected in a final judgment entered on October 22.
Click here to access the court's order approving the settlement.
In addition, the court approved Class Counsel's request for attorney's fees, and the
class representative's request for an incentive award.
As a result of the court's approval, the individual settlement amounts for each class
member submitted in connection with the final approval hearing have been approved and cannot be changed.
The settlement resolves a class action lawsuit brought by Donna Richards, suing on behalf
of certain legacy Fleet Financial Group, Inc., Shawmut National Corporation, and National
Westminster Bank participants who were converted to a cash balance pension formula on
January 1, 1997. Plaintiff claimed that the cash balance design violated the federal
law governing pensions and that the communications that the Bank provided to employees
regarding the cash balance formula and the conversion were inadequate. The Defendants
deny the Plaintiff's allegations, and the settlement is not an admission of fault by Defendants.
Payment of the amounts due under the settlement agreement is still dependant on two events:
(1) the expiration of the 30-day appeal period and (2) approval of the plan amendment
implementing the settlement by the Internal Revenue Service. The appeal period is set to
close on November 22, 2008. The Parties currently do not have any information regarding
the timing of the IRS approval and, as a result, do not know when the distribution of
settlement amounts may begin. If the IRS informs the Parties as to the timing of IRS approval,
we will update this website with that information. If the IRS has not approved the plan amendment
by April 22, 2009 the parties are required to meet with a mediator and discuss the issue.
If no appeals are filed during the appeal period, and the IRS approves the plan amendment implementing the settlement, class members will receive either a cash payment or a credit to their existing cash balance account or to a new cash balance account created for them. The amount that each class member will receive depends on a number of factors, including age and years of service. If you are a class member you may access the amount of your settlement on this website. Other settlement documents may also be accessed by clicking on the links in the navigation bar to the left.
Important Dates
Final Approval Granted on: October 15, 2008
Deadline for appeals of the Court's Order approving the settlement: November 22, 2008
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