Wells Fargo class action lawsuit settlement overview:
- Who: Wells Fargo & Co. has reached a settlement with investors in a class action lawsuit.
- Why: The investors accused Wells Fargo of failing to address discriminatory lending and hiring practices.
- Where: The Wells Fargo class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.
- How to Make a Claim: Details on how to file a claim were not immediately available. Sign up for our free newsletter to receive claim-filing instructions once they’re available, and check out what settlements are paying out this month.
Wells Fargo & Co. investors have reached a settlement in a derivative class action lawsuit claiming the bank’s executives failed to address discriminatory lending and hiring practices.
The investors and Wells Fargo filed a joint notice to a California federal judge on Sept. 15, stating that they had reached an agreement in principle to settle the class action lawsuit. The parties said they plan to file a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement by mid-October.
Terms of the Wells Fargo settlement were not immediately available. The involved parties requested that the court stay all pending deadlines in the lawsuit.
The settlement comes eight months after Wells Fargo asked the court to dismiss three executives from the case, arguing there were no allegations showing a presuit demand to the board would have been futile.
The class action lawsuit stems from a 2022 New York Times report alleging some Wells Fargo employees staged interviews for jobs that were already filled to meet a company diversity target, which the complaint says led to an 8.6% drop in the bank’s stock price.
Investors: Wells Fargo board failed to monitor discriminatory lending, hiring practices
The investors filed the operative complaint in 2024, alleging Wells Fargo’s board failed to “meaningfully monitor Wells Fargo’s discriminatory lending and hiring practices.”
Wells Fargo is facing a separate class action lawsuit over the alleged hiring practices. In July, the Ninth Circuit said it would not hear the bank’s appeal of the class certification granted in April.
In 2023, Wells Fargo urged a California federal judge to dismiss the class action lawsuit, arguing plaintiffs had not shown company leadership knew about allegedly fake interviews of diverse job candidates.
What do you think about the Wells Fargo hiring practices class action settlement? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
The investors are represented by Lesley E. Weaver, Anne K. Davis, Joshua D. Samra, Nancy A. Kulesa and Derrick B. Farrell of Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP; Marlon E. Kimpson, William S. Norton, Joshua C. Littlejohn and Vanessa A. Davis of Motley Rice LLC; and Mark C. Molumphy, Tyson Redenbarger and Gia Jung of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP.
The Wells Fargo class action lawsuit is In Re: Wells Fargo & Company Hiring Practices Derivative Litigation, Case No. 3:22-cv-05173, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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One thought on Wells Fargo settles investor class action tied to discriminatory hiring, lending claims
Sorry to hear about Wells Fargo practices