December 07, 2009

Class-Action Settlement for First City Bank Retirees Approved

Estimated $4.6 Million Available for Distribution

Houston - Judge Robert Schaffer of the 152nd Judicial District Court in Houston has approved a class-action lawsuit settlement that would distribute approximately $4.6 million to former employees of the former First City Bancorporation. More than 2,400 eligible members of the class may receive payments in a range of roughly $1,800 or more each.

"These beneficiaries are likely to be retirees in their 70s and 80s for whom this financial settlement could be very welcome," says David A. Furlow of Thompson & Knight LLP and counsel for the class. "There remain several hundred former First City employees who have not responded to our efforts to contact them about their rights to receive a distribution from the settlement fund, and the deadline to do so is approaching."

Former First City employees who have questions about their eligibility should review the information on the Class Administrator's Web site at www.firstcityclassaction.com. Under the terms of the settlement, class members must currently submit a claims form before Friday, December 18, 2009, to receive a distribution from the settlement fund. Membership in the class depends on whether a former First City employee was an annuitant under Prudential Insurance Company Group Annuity Contracts GA-5858 (which includes GA-5524) and GA-5523.

The dispute involves a defined-benefit retirement plan established and funded solely by First City for employees in 1976. First City cancelled the plan for being overfunded 10 years later. The company then made lump-sum payments to some participants and purchased long-term annuities on behalf of other employees from the Prudential Insurance Company.

After First City was declared insolvent in 1992 and went through an involuntary bankruptcy, successor corporations took the position that the former First City employees should receive nothing from the annuity investments.

Lead Class Counsel Robert S. MacIntyre, Jr. emphasizes that, "these payments will not affect anyone's right to receive pension benefits."

Contact

Becky S. Jackson
Becky.Jackson@tklaw.com
214.969.1478