DuPont/Corteva Early Retirement Case
Case Overview
This class-action ERISA lawsuit challenges the elimination or reduction of early retirement benefits around which many employees of the Dupont company planned their careers following the spin-off by Dupont of a former subsidiary, Corteva Agriscience. The suit was filed in 2021 by two such employees, Robert F. Cockerill and Christopher W. Newton, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and was later joined by Oliver Major and Darrell Benson.
Retirement benefits attorneys at Kantor & Kantor, with co-counsel Edward Stone Law, P.C. and Feinberg Jackson, filed suit on behalf of Mr. Cockerill, Mr. Newton, Mr. Major and Mr. Benson and a class of similarly situated employees, asserting claims for early and optional retirement benefits as well as claims for fiduciary breach and other violations of ERISA and, alternatively, for violation of state law, based on the Defendants’ self-serving and erroneous interpretation of plan terms and their broken promises.
Case NameThe case name is Cockerill v. Corteva, Inc., No. 21-3966, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Status of the Litigation
On August 4, 2022, the district court denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss, holding that plaintiffs are entitled to discovery on their claims. In July 2023, the Plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint, and the Defendants moved to dismiss the second amended complaint. The Court denied the Defendants’ motion on September 1, 2023.
On November 17, 2023, the Court granted class certification for two classes, an Early Retirement Class and an Optional Retirement Class. Class notices are being mailed and emailed beginning Friday, June 10, 2024. Click here for more information link to class notice. If you believe you are a member of either class and have not received a notice, please contact us.
The Court has set a trial beginning June 17, 2024.
- Read the Second Amended Complaint
- Read the Court’s decision denying the Defendants’ motion to dismiss the Complaint
- Read the Court’s decision denying the Defendants’ motion to dismiss Second Amended Complaint
- Read the Court’s decision granting the Plaintiffs’ class certification motion
This case will be updated to reflect important developments in the case.