On January 31, 2005, the Baltimore office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) against Lockheed Martin Corporation and Telenor Satellite Services, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. The EEOC alleged that the defendants had violated the rights of a complainant by conditioning her severance pay on the withdrawal of a complaint that she had filed against them with the EEOC. The EEOC further alleged that the defendants had violated the rights of another class of complainants by discharging them on account of their age.

On November 2, 2006, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss and, in the alternative, a motion for summary judgment. The district court dismissed those motions on August 9, 2007.

On February 8, 2007, the parties filed motion for relief to enter a consent decree, which the court entered on the next day. We have no record of this consent decree, but the docket shows that it did not end the dispute between the parties, who continued to prepare for trial. In fact, the defendant filed a second motion for summary judgment on February 23, 2007, but the court denied that motion on September 14, 2007. The defendant later filed a third motion for summary judgment on April 11, 2007, and the court denied that motion on October 12, 2007.

During a settlement conference on February 22, 2008, the parties reached a final settlement. We have no record of the terms of this settlement, but on March 7, 2008, the district court approved the terms and dismissed the case, ruling that both parties would bear their own costs.

Justin Kanter - 04/18/2008


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