SBC Telephone Concession LitigationSummary of Lawsuit: On behalf of its clients and a class, Cohen Milstein filed a complaint against SBC Communications, (now AT&T) concerning the management of and the reduction of benefits provided by the SBC Telephone Concession Plan. This lawsuit alleges that SBC violated nearly every provision of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA") governing defined benefit plans with respect to the SBC Telephone Concession provided to Out-of-Service Area (a/k/a OOR/OOF) retirees. In Phase I of this lawsuit, the Court has determined that the Telephone Concession provided to OOR/OOF retirees is a defined benefit pension plan covered by ERISA. In Phase II of the litigation, Plaintiffs will seek to reform the Plan so that it complies with ERISA and also seeks to restore telephone concession benefits (which SBC has attempted to eliminate or reduce) to retirees and other vested employees of SBC entitled to receive this benefit. Class Certification: On October 3, 2006, the Court entered an order certifying this case as a Class Action. The class is defined as follows for claims against SBC: (1) Retirees of an SBC Company, receiving a Telephone Concession Benefit after they retired, anytime from January 1, 2002, to the present and who lived outside the SBC Service Area; (2) Current or former employees of any SBC Participating Company with more than five years of service with an SBC Participating Company as of June 1, 2005, who were eligible or might become eligible to receive an Out-of-Service Telephone Concession after they retired; (3) Members of the immediate family of any person in Group 1 or Group 2, including surviving spouses and the retiree dependents, during the time that SBC had a policy to provide employees of such SBC Participating Companies with a Telephone Concession after retirement. In addition, the Court certified a class consisting of all participants and beneficiaries of the Plan at any time from January 31, 2003, to October 1, 2005 for the Benefits Claims Pursuant to ERISA §502 (A)(1)(B) against the Plan. If you are a class member, please complete the questionnaire posted at right and mail to: Abigail Scott, Paralegal
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
1100 New York Avenue, N.W.
Suite 500, West Tower
Washington, D.C. 20005 Results of Phase I of the Litigation: After completion of discovery on Phase I of this litigation, Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment, which the Court denied on November 26, 2007. Thereafter, on November 26-30, 2007, the Court held a trial on Phase I of this case. On May 21, 2008 the Court entered a decision on Phase I of this case, ruling in favor of Plaintiffs and the Class and concluding that the Telephone Concession provided to OOR/OOF is a pension plan under ERISA maintained by Defendant SBC (now AT&T, Inc.). As the Court has bifurcated (or split) the case into two Phases, the case will now proceed to Phase II, which will determine which portions of ERISA Defendant violated (including and whether the $25 cap imposed in 2003 and the elimination of cash payments in 2005 were illegal), the remedy, and the amount of benefits (both past and future) to which each participant is entitled. Whom To Contact For More Information: If you are a current, former or retired employee of SBC (or its predecessors, subsidiaries and/or affiliates) who are receiving or did receive the telephone concession benefit as an OOR/OOF employee or retiree, or you have information which might assist us in the prosecution of these allegations, please complete the questionnaire posted at right and/or contact one of the following persons: R. Joseph Barton, Esq. jbarton@cohenmilstein.com
Abigail Scott, Paralegal, ascott@cohenmilstein.com
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
1100 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20005
Telephone: 888-240-0775 or 202-408-4600
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