Eric Lechtzin is a founding Partner of Edelson Lechtzin LLP and he leads the firm's practices in the areas of ERISA Retirement Plan class actions, and Unpaid Overtime class and collective actions. Mr. Lechtzin received his J.D. from the Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1991. Mr. Lechtzin's practice also includes consumer protection class actions, and securities fraud litigation. Previously, Mr. Lechtzin was a Shareholder at Berger Montague PC, a large national law firm.
Mr. Lechtzin has served as the Pennsylvania State Chair for the National Association of Consumer Advocates. He has been named a "Super Lawyer" in Pennsylvania for Class and Mass Tort Litigation every year since 2017, he is AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell, and he has received a perfect 10.0 rating by Avvo.com.
In the area of ERISA class actions, Mr. Lechtzin recently co-authored an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Retirement Plans Committee of IBM v. Jander, 140 S. Ct. 592 (2020), where he argued successfully that the Court should not alter the standard to plead claims against fiduciaries of an employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) alleging that such fiduciaries should have made earlier public disclosures of adverse insider information. Mr. Lechtzin's successful ERISA cases also include Daugherty v. Univ. of Chicago, 2018 WL 1805646 (N.D. Ill. 2018) ($6.5 million settlement of ERISA claims alleging breach of fiduciary duties by incurring excessive expenses and retaining underperforming funds).
Mr. Lechtzin's successful representations in the area of unpaid wages and overtime cases include Arrington v. Optimum Healthcare IT, 2018 WL 5631625 (E.D. Pa. 2018), where plaintiffs' litigation team obtained a $4.9 million settlement of class action that alleged failure to pay overtime compensation to IT consultants. In Meyer v. The LandTek Group, Inc., Case No. 2:17-cv-00161-AYS (E.D.N.Y.), Mr. Lechtzin successfully recovered wages for unpaid off-the-clock time on behalf of a group of construction laborers who were "engaged to wait" before their shifts.
In the area of securities fraud, Mr. Lechtzin was a member of the litigation team in In re: Oppenheimer Rochester Funds Group Securities Litigation, No. 09-md- 02063-JLK (D. Col.), which settled for $89.5 million. Mr. Lechtzin served as lead counsel in In re Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 03-CV-10165-RWZ (D. Mass.), which ultimately settled for $50 million after successfully obtaining class certification.
Among his successful representations in the area of consumer protection litigation is Silver v. Fitness Intern., LLC, No. 10-cv-2326-MMB, 2013 WL 5429293 (E.D. Pa. ), a class action against a national health club chain that resulted in substantial changes of the company's membership cancellation polices. Lechtzin was co-lead counsel in Stromberg v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, No. 15-04719, 2017 WL 2686540 (N.D. Cal. 2017), where he represented a group of California borrowers who alleged that certain lenders had failed to timely reconvey deed of trust documents, as required by Cal. Civ. Code § 2941(b), and ultimately obtained a settlement that paid each member of the class more than 66 percent of their total recoverable damages without the need to submit claim forms.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
MEMBERSHIPS & LEADERSHIP POSITIONS
EDUCATION
Law School
Temple University Beasley School of Law, J.D. 1991
Undergraduate
Temple University College of Arts & Sciences Honors Program, B.A. magna cum laude, Political Science and Economics, 1988. Elected by faculty to Phi Beta Kappa honors society.
PROFESSIONAL HONORS & AWARDS
STATE BAR ADMISSIONS
FEDERAL COURT ADMISSIONS
U.S. District Courts
U.S. Court of Appeals
