USDC Northern District of Illinois
CPM successfully represented current and former journalists of the Los Angeles Times in a lawsuit filed against Sam Zell, the Tribune Company, and others, for a breach of their fiduciary duties, violating ERISA, improper valuation and misuse of employee pension fund assets and conflicts of interest. Other allegations included that Tribune Company employees, who technically own the company through the Tribune ESOP, had been damaged by the go-private transaction and by the subsequent mismanagement and self-dealings of Tribune executives, including Sam Zell, the result of which had been to diminish the value and the products of the employee-owned company. CPM received approval for a $32 million settlement for the employees' retirement plan.
