Chrysler bosses sue over lost pensions
(AFP)
DETROIT, Michigan — More than 450 Chrysler bosses including ex-chairman Lee Iacocca sued Daimler AG and Cerberus Friday claiming they lost 100 million dollars in pensions in the automaker's bankruptcy.
One of the lawyers, Sheldon Miller, said supplemental pensions were not transferred to the new Chrysler during its restructuring in 2009 and "as a result, each of the plaintiffs lost large percentages of their earned retirement pensions."
The class action lawsuit launched on Friday claims Daimler failed to protect the supplemental pensions properly.
Daimler could have converted pensions into annuities, a step they took for active executives in 2005 when Chrysler was first experiencing difficulties, Miller said.
A Daimler spokesman said he could not comment on the lawsuit because he had not seen any court documents.
The plaintiff also charge that Cerberus, which acquired Chrysler in 2007 and surrendered the company during the federal bailout, appears to have converted the supplemental pension account or left it unprotected from creditors during the automaker's 2009 bankruptcy.
Miller said there are no plans for any action against the new Chrysler.
"Everybody involved in this suit loves that company and like everybody else wants to see it succeed," Miller said.
"The plaintiffs in our case are trying to assure that there won't be similar hardships for Chrysler's current employees, many of whom worked for and with the people involved in this suit.
A year after emerging from a government-financed restructuring under bankruptcy, Chrysler last month narrowed its net quarterly loss to 172 million dollars, a 25 million dollar improvement over the first quarter of 2010.
Iacocca, who was credited with steering the company out of near bankruptcy in the 1980s, retired from Chrysler in 1992.
