Technical Associates Employee Stock Ownership Plan
Summary of Lawsuit
This lawsuit alleges that Defendants violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) through claims of breaches of fiduciary duty and prohibit transactions, which arose from a 2011 Refinancing of Technical Associates of Georgia, Inc. and its ESOP.
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In 2006, the Technical Associates ESOP purchased all outstanding shares of Technical Associates stock. The ESOP owned 100% of company stock until the 2011 Refinancing. The Complaint alleges that in connection to the 2011 Refinancing Defendants John F. Hogue, Jr. and Graham Thompson, the Trustees of the ESOP, breached their fiduciary duty and engaged in prohibited transactions by secretly obtaining a significant share of company stock and thereby diluting the value of the ESOP’s stock. Additionally, the Complaint also alleges that Defendants Hogue and Thompson concealed their acquisition of the stock by failing to disclose in writing that the ESOP no longer owned 100% of company stock after the 2011 Refinancing.
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This lawsuit is brought on behalf of the following class:
Participants in the Technical Associates ESOP on or after the date stock was issued to Defendants Hogue and Thompson in connection with the 2011 Refinancing who vested under the terms of the Plan (or ERISA) and those participants’ beneficiaries.
Excluded from the Class are Defendants and their immediate families, any other fiduciary of the Plan and his or her immediate family; the officers and directors of Technical Associates and their immediate family, and legal representatives, successors, and assigns of any such excluded persons.
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The Complaint was filed on January 29, 2019. The Amended Complaint was filed on April 19, 2019. Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss on May 24, 2019.
On March 16, 2020, the Court denied Defendants' Motion to Dismiss. Discovery is currently ongoing.
Plaintiffs filed their Motion for Class Certification on July 29, 2020. The Motion for Class Certification was granted on March 2, 2021.
Defendants filed their Motion for Summary Judgment on February 10, 2022. Plaintiffs filed their Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on February 17, 2022.
On September 29, 2023, the Court denied the Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment and granted Plaintiffs’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment.
Trial began on July 29, 2024. The United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia ruled in favor of Defendants.
The case is being appealed to the Eleventh Circuit.
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Whom to Contact for More Information
If you are a member of the proposed class or you have information which might assist us in the prosecution of these allegations, please contact one of the following persons:
R. Joseph Barton, Esq. jbarton@thebartonfirm.com
Ming Siegel, Paralegal ming@thebartonfirm.com
The Barton Firm LLP
1633 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 200
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 734-7046
The Barton Firm LLP is co-counsel in this litigation with Feinberg Jackson Worthman & Wasow LLP and Stone Law Group - Trial Lawyers LLC.