CLASS NOTICE: On May 9, 2022, the Claims Administrator conducted the initial distribution of settlement funds to eligible claimants, as approved by order of the Court. The second distribution occurred in November 2023. Subsequent distributions will occur on a rolling basis, provided that net settlement funds are available.
The information contained on this web page is only a summary of information presented in more detail in the Notice of (I) Pendency of Class Actions and Proposed Settlements; (II) Settlement Fairness Hearings; and (III) Motions for Attorneys’ Fees and Litigation Expenses (the “Notice”), which you can access by clicking here
. Since this website is just a summary, you should review the Notice for additional details.
This website concerns the settlement of two separate class actions, the Federal Action and Delaware Action, which relate to the merger transaction (the “Merger”) by which Towers Watson & Co. (“Towers”) and Willis Group Holdings plc (“Willis”) merged to become Willis Towers Watson plc (“WTW”). The Merger closed on January 4, 2016.
The Parties have reached settlements of the two Actions which total $90,000,000 in cash (the “Settlements”): $75 million for the settlement of the Federal Action and $15 million for the settlement of the Delaware Action. On May 21, 2021, the Federal Court entered a Judgment approving the Federal Settlement and orders approving the Plan of Allocation and Lead Counsel’s motion for attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses in the Federal Action. On May 25, 2021, the Delaware Court approved the Delaware Settlement, finally certified the Delaware Class and approved Lead Counsel’s motion for attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses in the Delaware Action.
The Federal Class consists of:
All persons and entities that were Towers shareholders, including shareholders of record and beneficial owners, as of both October 1, 2015, the record date for Towers shareholders to be eligible to vote on the Merger of Towers and Willis, and January 4, 2016, the date the Merger transaction between Towers and Willis closed, and who were allegedly damaged thereby.
Excluded from the Federal Class by definition are certain persons and entities (see paragraph 39 of the Notice) and those who requested exclusion from Federal Class pursuant to the instructions set forth in the Notice.
To be a Federal Class Member, you do not need to have held all the Towers shares that you owned on October 1, 2015 until January 4, 2016. You need only have continued to own at least some of that Towers common stock that you held on October 1, 2015 as of January 4, 2016. You are excluded from the Federal Class if you sold all of your Towers shares before January 4, 2016. Any of your shares which were sold between October 1, 2015 and January 4, 2016 will not be eligible for recovery in the Settlements. If you held more Towers shares on January 4, 2016 than you held on October 1, 2015, then only the shares you held on October 1, 2015 are eligible for recovery in the Federal Settlement.
The Delaware Class consists of:
All former record and beneficial owners of the common stock of Towers at any time during the period from June 29, 2015 through and including January 4, 2016, together with their successors and assigns.
To be a member of the Delaware Class, you only need to have held Towers shares on January 4, 2016. Certain persons and entities are excluded from the Delaware by definition (see paragraph 41 of the Notice).
The claims administration was completed in February 2022. On February 18, 2022, the Motion for Approval of Distribution Plan was filed. On February 22, 2022, the Court entered the Order Approving the Distribution Plan. The first distribution of the net settlement fund occurred in May 2022. The second distribution occurred in November 2023. The third distribution will take place in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Please read the Notice to fully understand your rights and options. Copies of the Notice can be found in the menu on the left of this page.
If you have questions, you may call the Willis Towers Watson Shareholder Litigation Help Line at 1-800-983-6133 or email info@WillisTowersWatsonShareholderLitigation.com.