Result: $29.75 million settlement
Year: 2013
Vedachalam v. Tata Consultancy Services, Ltd.
Lieff Cabraser served as Co-Lead Counsel for 12,700 foreign nationals sent by the Indian conglomerate Tata to work in the U.S. After 7 years of hard-fought litigation, the District Court in July 2013 granted final approval to a $29.75 million settlement.
The complaint charged that Tata breached the contracts of its non-U.S.-citizen employees by requiring them to sign over their federal and state tax refund checks to Tata, and by failing to pay its non-U.S.-citizen employees the monies promised to those employees before they came to the United States.
In 2007 and again in 2008, the District Court denied Tata’s motions to compel arbitration of Plaintiffs’ claims in India. The Court held that no arbitration agreement existed because the documents purportedly requiring arbitration in India applied one set of rules to the Plaintiffs and another set to Tata.
In 2009, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed this decision.
In July 2011, the District Court denied in part Tata’s motion for summary judgment, allowing Plaintiffs’ legal claims for breach of contract and certain violations of California wage laws to go forward.
In 2012, the District Court found that the plaintiffs satisfied the legal requirements for a class action and certified two classes.