A class-action federal lawsuit sparked by faculty at St. Michael’s College against a major financial services company has resulted in a $19.5 million settlement for 106,000 claimants nationwide.
Under terms of an order signed Wednesday by U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha, TIAA-CREF, the financial services company, will also pay $3.3 million in attorneys’ fees in the case, which began about five years ago and which pertains to retirement accounts of teachers at various private schools.
The case arose after St. Michael’s College decided to move faculty members’ retirement accounts from TIAA-CREF to another company. Faculty members alleged that their investment accounts failed to be credited with market gains during the lag time between when TIAA-CREF received all the paperwork required for the move and when the accounts were actually redeemed and moved. This lag ranged from days to weeks.
The class of plaintiffs, formed initially from faculty at St. Michael’s, grew to include teachers and professors all over the country with TIAA-CREF retirement accounts.
The $19.5 million will be apportioned among class members based on data they have supplied about their accounts. TIAA-CREF admits no wrongdoing under the terms of the settlement.
