PBGC sues to take over Dewey & LeBoeuf retirement plans

NEW YORK—The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Dewey & LeBoeuf L.L.P. to force the New York-based law firm to turn over its three pension plans to the agency and appoint it the plans' trustee.

The PBGC announced earlier that the three plans should be terminated because benefits will not be paid out when they are due, and to avoid any unreasonable increase in plan liabilities.

The pension plans are underfunded by more than $80 million, according to the PBGC, and the complaint states the “abandonment” of one of the plans—the Dewey & LeBoeuf 2007 Partners Cash Balance Plan—is “imminent.”

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, said the law firm is “liquidating and winding up its affairs outside bankruptcy.” At least 127 of the 280 Dewey partners have left the firm since January. “The continuing loss of revenue-generating partners and Dewey’s debt load has culminated in the imminent demise of Dewey,” the lawsuit states.

A spokesman for Dewey & LeBoeuf said the firm has no comment.

Kevin Olsen is a reporter for Pensions & Investments, a sister publication of Business Insurance.