Under Armour agrees to $434m settlement in pension fund lawsuit

A lawsuit involving employees from three Scottish councils has resulted in a $434 million (£334 million) settlement from the American sportswear firm, Under Armour. The North East Scotland Pension Fund (NESPF) manages a plan covering 78,000 employees, among them staff from Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, and Moray councils. The fund had invested millions of pounds in Under Armour shares. Subsequently, it accused the company of issuing misleading statements regarding its products. According to BBC understanding, the combined council fund incurred losses exceeding £6 million. Attorneys representing the pension fund reached the settlement in June. This agreement has now received court approval, and the funds are set to be distributed to the plaintiffs. The NESPF stated it was awaiting further specifics regarding the court’s ruling. A class action is defined as a legal proceeding where a single plaintiff initiates a claim on behalf of a broader collective of individuals who have experienced comparable damages. The NESPF served as the primary plaintiff in the class action lawsuit filed against Under Armour. The legal action was managed by the American law firm Robbins Geller Rudman and Dowd LLP. Mark Solomon, a partner at the firm and legal counsel for the NESPF, informed BBC Scotland News: “We’re very pleased with the outcome. It was hard-fought. We had to go to the brink of trial.“To get what is one of the top 50 outcomes ever in this sort of case in the USA is a very significant result.” Under Armour’s headquarters are located in Baltimore, Maryland. Former college football player Kevin Plank established the company in 1996. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and possesses a market capitalization of $3 billion (£2.3 billion). A statement published on the company’s official website indicated that it had consistently refuted the allegations and had “entered into this agreement in principle, which is not an admission or finding of fault or wrongdoing, given the costs and risks inherent in litigation”. This statement verifies that the company will disburse $434 million to resolve claims initiated on behalf of individuals who purchased the company’s publicly traded shares between September 16, 2015, and November 1, 2019. It further specifies that the settlement “would resolve all claims against Under Armour and other defendants in this matter”. In June, prior to the court’s endorsement, Mehri Shadman, the company’s chief legal officer and corporate secretary, stated: “We firmly believe that our sales practices, accounting practices and disclosures were appropriate, and deny any wrongdoing in this case.” The NESPF informed BBC Scotland News in a statement released on Friday: “We are awaiting further details of the court decision.”