A lawsuit blaming Colgate-Palmolive Co. and other defendants for allowing a former employee’s retirement account to be stolen has been settled, according to a brief notice filed Sept. 4 by a federal judge in New York.
No terms were revealed, and the one-paragraph notice did not disclose which defendants are affected or for how much.
In July 2022, former employee Paula Disberry sued Colgate’s 401(k) plan fiduciaries, the plan’s record keeper, Alight Solutions and the plan’s custodian, Bank of New York Mellon, accusing them of violating ERISA by allowing the theft of her retirement account of more than $750,000.
“The court, having been advised that all claims asserted herein have been settled in principle,” dismissed the lawsuit, according to the notice filed by U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon, who added that she “has the right to reopen the action within thirty days of the date of this order if the settlement is not consummated” in Disberry vs. Employee Relations Committee of Colgate-Palmolive Co. et al.
According to Disberry's complaint, the defendants didn’t act when someone impersonating her changed personal information on file and accessed the entire balance in her account. Each defendant had asked the judge to throw out Disberry’s claims.
The Colgate-Palmolive Co. Employees Savings and Investment Plan, New York, had $2.8 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2022, according to the latest Form 5500.
