- 22 -
the prospective economic advantages of employees sought or
obtained redress for any of the traditional harms associated with
personal injury such as pain and suffering or emotional distress.
See United States v. Burke, supra.
C. Other Factors
Other factors support respondent's contention that
petitioner's recovery was not on account of personal injury. As
mentioned, the two notices received by petitioner clearly
describe the class action as one for the recovery of lost wages
and employment-related economic harm. In fact, class members
were informed that claims for any harm other than employment-
related economic harm should be pursued by the class member
independently of the class action. Petitioner did not otherwise
pursue a claim for any personal harm. Rather, he claimed his
portion of the recovery by describing how the Defendants' actions
had economically affected him.
Further, the independent trustee in charge of allocation of
the funds was expected to, and did, devise an arrangement
designed to compensate the class members for employment-related
economic harm. The independent trustee allocated funds to ensure
that qualified claimants received up to 2 weeks of severance pay
for each full year of seniority. The remaining funds were
distributed to terminated employees, such as petitioner, who did
not transfer or receive the benefit of the early retirement
Page: Previous 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011