Washington, May 13: Former Enron employees who lost millions of dollars in retirement money in the company's stunning collapse would get USD 85 million in a partial settlement of their lawsuit, attorneys have said.
In a related development, former company directors have agreed to pay a total USD 1.5 million to resolve a suit by the labour department, attorneys said yesterday..
The employees alleged in a class-action suit that the now-bankrupt energy company and its officers failed to execute their duties in administering Enron's pension plan.
The partial settlement calls for the company employees who were trustees of the plan to hand over an USD 85 million insurance policy that covered them against liability. It
resolves the claims against Enron's human resources staff and company directors, but not those against the company itself and Kenneth Lay, who had been Enron's chairman, and former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling.
The labour department's civil suit, filed last June, also named lay and skilling. The government sought to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in lost employees' retirement money, alleging that Enron and its top executives mismanaged retirement plans full of overpriced company stock.
Both suits were filed in federal court in Houston, where Enron had its headquarters, and the settlements must be approved by the court.
Attorneys for the Enron employees said their deal would be the largest settlement ever of a case involving company stock in retirement plans.
Bureau Report
