District Judge Hamilton Approves Settlement On August 13, 2008.
On March 31, 2005, certain women, individually and on behalf of a putative class, filed a lawsuit in United States District Court, Northern District of California, seeking monetary, injunctive and other relief against Smith Barney because of alleged gender discrimination. The lawsuit, predicated primarily on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and California Government Code section 12940 (California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act), alleged discrimination by Smith Barney against female financial advisors in compensation, account distributions, partnerships, acquisition of books of business of retiring financial advisors, and other business opportunities that were not afforded to female financial advisors in a manner equal to their male counterparts. Both of these statutory schemes have fee-shifting provisions. The lawsuit is Amochaev, et al. v. Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., d/b/a Smith Barney,
Case No. C-05-1298 PJH (N.D. Cal. Mar. 31, 2005) (See NYT article dated April 1, 2005, reporting on the filing).
After class notice was sent out on approximately May 1, 2008, District Judge Hamilton, who presided over the case, granted final approval to a settlement by which $33 million was to be distributed to 1,219 class members, well over 50% of a total 2,411 class member pool, and numerous policy changes were made by Smith Barney to enhance business opportunities for female financial advisors in the future. Based on the class notice, it also appears that class counsel was awarded $6,500,000 for incurred attorney’s fees, $500,000 for projected future fee work, and up to $900,000 in costs. The fees and costs were to be paid from the $33 million settlement fund. In addition, the named plaintiffs and another lead plaintiff received bonus payments ranging from $35,000-$50,000.
The Final Settlement Approval Order can be accessed by clicking here.