Chris Wingard, an Associate in Kleinbard’s Business & Finance Practice, authored a post on Williams v. Shapiro No. 24-11192 (11th Cir. Dec. 15, 2025), for the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO)’s Employee Ownership Legal Digest. The NCEO’s Legal Digest provides summaries of key cases, rulings, and legal developments impacting employee ownership. In this case, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that invalidated an arbitration provision in an employee stock ownership plan sponsored by A360, Inc. The court found that the clause unlawfully waived participants’ statutory rights under ERISA to sue in a representative capacity on behalf of the plan for plan-wide losses. Here, individual ESOP account losses were considered losses to the plan. The arbitration clause at issue barred representative claims and plan-wide monetary relief, permitting only limited injunctive remedies, which the court found to be an impermissible waiver of ERISA rights. This decision reinforces that ESOP arbitration provisions must preserve ERISA remedies and be carefully drafted to ensure enforceability.
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