On May 9, 2023, KL filed a class action alleging that the Trustee and Plan Administrators for the Asbury Carbons, Inc. ESOP breached their fiduciary duties to act solely in the interests of the ESOP participants and beneficiaries by agreeing to sell the ESOP’s nearly 20 percent holdings of Asbury Carbons, Inc. stock to enable a sale of the Company by the Riddle family which owned the other 80 percent of the Company’s stock. It is further alleged that while this sale of the Company was to the significant benefit of the Riddle Family, it resulted in the participants and beneficiaries of the ESOP losing approximately 50 percent of the value of their retirement benefits.
The case has been filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and is case number 3:23-cv-02540. A copy of the Complaint can be found here.