Closed Case
Age Discrimination in Employment
Settled in 1997 for $58.5 million

In 1993, First Union Bank continued an aggressive expansion program by acquiring First American Bank, a bank with several thousand employees operating in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. that was available for sale as a result of the BCCI scandal. In connection with the acquisition, First Union fired hundreds of employees. Older workers believed themselves to have been discriminatorily targeted and replaced by younger new hires.

 In 1994, Sprenger + Lang filed an age discrimination action in which about 250 persons ultimately joined. After about 200 depositions and the engagement of eight expert witnesses (five by plaintiffs), the judge permitted the plaintiffs to prosecute their discriminatory termination and hiring claims as collective actions. After exhausting its dispositive motions, First Union decided to settle for $58.5 million a few weeks before trial was scheduled to commence. It is, we believe, one of the two largest awards per class member in any employment discrimination case.

Reported Decisions:

• 980 F. Supp. 46 (D.D.C. 1997)
• 980 F. Supp. 38 (D.D.C. 1997)
• 982 F. Supp. 14 (D.D.C. 1997)
• 982 F. Supp. 8 (D.D.C. 1997)
• 982 F. Supp. 1 (D.D.C. 1997)
• 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18010 (D.D.C. Aug. 12, 1997) 
• 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18009 (D.D.C. Aug 12, 1997)