A lawsuit filed by former employees against Tucson-based First Magnus Financial Corp. for unpaid wages and benefits has been dealt a setback.
In an order filed Jan. 11 U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Marlar denied the employees' request to certify the suit as a class action, writing that "such an event would unnecessarily increase the costs and reduce the distribution to the proposed class members." Marlar wrote that the employees should simply file claims, "each of which will be addressed on its merits."
The lawsuit was filed about a week after First Magnus filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 21 The suit alleges that the company violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act by not providing advance notice before suddenly halting its operations and laying off virtually all of its 5,500 employees nationwide on Aug. 16.
An attorney representing the employees, René Roupinian, from the New York law firm Outten & Golden LLP, did not immediately return a call about future plans for the case.