Judge Approves Settlement in American LaFrance Workers’ Case

A judge has approved a $671,000 settlement for former American LaFrance employees who sued the failed firetruck manufacturer after losing their jobs in Moncks Corner early last year.

Lawyers for Olivia Schreiner and James Schreiner said a lump-sum payment of $385,000 is the equivalent of six weeks of severance pay for about 100 fired workers who are eligible to receive a cut of the money.

The rest of the settlement proceeds will go toward legal fees and other expenses.

The money will be paid by American LaFrance and Patriarch Partners LLC, a New York financier that controlled the Berkeley County manufacturer.

This settlement enables the workers to close the books on a tumultuous chapter of their lives, said attorney James L. Ward Jr. of Richardson Patrick Westbrook & Brickman, which represents the fired employees. Imagine arriving to your workplace to find that it had suddenly closed and you were not getting any help. These employees were left in the lurch while they watched a private equity firm dismantle and liquidate the iconic firetruck brand s assets.

The Schreiners last year alleged American LaFrance violated labor law by not providing proper notice about the shutdown in mid-January 2014. They worked for the company for about 10 years before it abruptly closed its doors in South Carolina and two other states as its finances rapidly deteriorated.

The Charleston lawsuit cited the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires most companies with 100 or more employees to provide written notice at least 60 calendar days before a factory shutdown or mass layoff.

The complaint named the manufacturer and Patriarch Partners, which attorneys for the workers said owned, managed and controlled American LaFrance. The investment firm disagreed and asked to be dismissed from the lawsuit, saying it was merely a adviser.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel denied that request. He approved the settlement and closed the case last week. The deal stemmed from a mediation session in March, according to a filing.

American LaFrance and its predecessors had been building fire engines and firefighting equipment for about 180 years.

It employed about 500 workers when it went out of business, including about 100 in Moncks Corner. The fired employees at the other locations did not qualify for compensation from the lawsuit because the headcount at those plants did not meet the minimum federal threshold for the notification act.

Contact John McDermott at 937-5572.