June 20, 2000 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Alliance Capital
Management, the ninth-largest investment company in the
world, has agreed to acquire Sanford Bernstein & Co., a
money management and research firm, for close to $3.5 billion
in cash and stock.
The takeover is the latest in a consolidation wave that
is sweeping the money management industry, with foreign
companies buying up American firms. Monday, Old Mutual
agreed to take over United Asset Management Corp. Last
week, France’s Caisse des Depots agreed to buy Nvest. Last
month, UniCredito Italiano announced the takeover of
Pioneer Group.
Today’s announcement also has a foreign angle. Alliance
is controlled by AXA SA, the French financial group. Axa
also owns Axa Financial/Equitable and Donaldson Lufkin
& Jenrette.
The new combined company will have roughly $475 billion
in assets under management. It will manage assets for
approximately 2,600 institutional and 15,000 private client
accounts, as well as $189 billion in mutual fund
assets.
Alliance will pay $1.5 billion in cash and 40.8 million
newly issued limited partnerships units of Alliance
Capital.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth
quarter.
May 8, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A worker's damage
recovery under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) is
not subject to subrogation by his employer or its insurance
carrier, according to the Pennsylvania Commonwealth
Court.
The court ruling in Brubacher Excavating Inc. v.
Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board found that the alleged
discrimination was not directly related to his original
work injury, according to the Legal Intelligencer.
James Bridges worked for Brubacher as a master mechanic,
injuring his back on Sept. 17, 1992, while he was lifting a
cylinder head from an engine. Bridges gave his employer
Brubacher notice of the injury the following day.
From then until November 1993 Bridges received $455 per
week in total disability benefits. He then began working
for Diesel Services Inc. as a service writer/adviser,
earning $400/week. Thereafter he continued to receive
partial disability benefits of $245/week. However, Diesel’s
workers’ compensation insurance carrier refused to cover
Bridges, and he was terminated after just two weeks.
Bridges’ total disability benefits were reinstated on
Nov. 22, 1993, and he has remained on total disability
since that time, according to the report.
Court Case
In 1995, Bridges filed a suit against Diesel under the
ADA, requesting $50,000 in compensatory and punitive
damages. Brubacher and its workers’ comp insurance carrier
asserted a right to subrogation against any recovery
Bridges might get.
However, a workers’ compensation judge said they were
not entitled to subrogation because the injury alleged in
the civil action was unrelated to the work injury. The
Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board affirmed that judgment
and Brubacher appealed.
The Bridges court found that the state supreme court has
addressed a similar issue in a 1980 decision, Dale
Manufacturing Co. v. WCAB. In that situation, a worker sued
a doctor who left a cotton pad inside her during surgery
for her work-related injury. The employer tried to enforce
its subrogation rights on the recovery she received,
arguing that the doctor’s negligence aggravated the work
injury. However, the court said the employer had not
offered enough evidence.
Subrogation Clause
The court said in order for an employer to successfully
assert its subrogation right must show:
it is compelled to make payments by reason of the
negligence of a third party
the recovery was for the same compensable injury for
which it was liable under the act
In Bridges, the court found that the plaintiff in
Bridges sustained two separate injuries, the first to his
back, and the second an act of employment discrimination
from Diesel.