Sam Zell Must Face Tribune Employees' Lawsuit Over Pension Plan

Sam Zell, the real estate investor who took the Chicago-based Tribune Co. private in an $8.3 billion stock buyback two years ago, must face an employee lawsuit claiming he knowingly violated federal pension laws. US District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in Chicago rejected Zell's request to dismiss the suit filed last year. The employees accuse Zell of working with board members and others who allegedly breached their fiduciary duty to the workers. The judge said that Zell helped engineer the transaction that left Tribune with almost $13 billion in debt even if he wasn't responsible to the Employee Stock Ownership Plan that privatized the newspaper and broadcasting company. As many as 10,000 workers may have lost money as a result of how the shareholder buyout was executed.