UAL Stock Committee Settles $5.25M Suit

CHICAGO – The committee that oversaw United Airlines’ employee-stock ownership plan settled a class-action lawsuit for $5.25 million that was brought on behalf of UAL Corp. employees.

In a press release Wednesday, a law firm representing the committee said the settlement would be paid by insurance. The settlement doesn’t constitute any finding of wrongdoing on behalf of the committee, the firm said.

The UAL workers are still pursuing a suit against State Street Bank & Trust, a unit of State Street Corp., the plan’s trustee. That dispute is scheduled to go to trial Oct. 17. State Street couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The suits allege that State Street and the committee held onto UAL stock too long, after they knew it was unstable and sustained losses prior to the terrorist attacks of 2001.

The stock plan committee included six employee members: one named by United Airlines and five others from machinists’ and pilots’ unions.

A spokesman for UAL, based in Elk Grove Village, Ill., said he wasn’t familiar with the settlement and couldn’t immediately comment.

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