Douglas P. Needham

Working closely with actuaries, economists and statisticians, Doug’s cases involve complex annuity, investment and insurance products, as well as the effect of corporate mergers and spin-offs on employee benefits.

He was a partner at a boutique plaintiffs’ class action firm before joining Motley Rice, playing a lead role in developing novel cases brought under the ERISA statute and helping thousands of workers across the country recover money and benefits, including:   

• Berry v. Wells Fargo ($79 million settlement.* Worked alongside Motley Rice as co-lead counsel. The settlement was the largest recovery for a “top hat case” in the history of ERISA) 
• Cruz v. Raytheon ($59 million settlement* as class counsel) 
• Snider v. Seventy-Seven Energy ($15 million settlement* as co-lead counsel)
• Stegemann v. Gannett (co-class counsel)

Before focusing on his practice representing plaintiffs, Doug represented clients in business torts, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud cases as a partner at a large corporate law firm in Connecticut.  

A former All-Ivy lacrosse player during his time at Cornell, Doug is a youth lacrosse and basketball coach and a board member for a local lacrosse program and previously was the risk manager for a youth soccer program.

* Please remember that every case is different. Any result we achieve for one client in one matter does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.