A large group of former employees of the now defunct First Republic Bank have launched a lawsuit against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
The FDIC assumed control of First Republic Bank when it failed.
The ex-employees claim that the FDIC has improperly refused to release money from a trust to pay them wages and other compensation they are yet owed for their work at First Republic.
The plaintiffs allege that their earned wages and other compensation, as well as collateral designated to secure such wages and compensation, is tied up improperly in a deferred compensation trust established by the bank that the bank's receiver has not released.
The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
A federal judge denied the plaintiffs' motion for a temporary restraining order on Dec. 21, which would have forced the receiver to release the funds from the trust.
The case remains pending in San Francisco federal court.
Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Kevin P. Simpson, Timothy W. Walsh and Carrie V. Hardman, of the firm of Winston & Strawn LLP, of Los Angeles and New York.