Mealey's ( March 11, 2025, 8:00 AM EDT) -- NEW YORK — A New York federal judge declined to consolidate related Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuits challenging the same July 2016 Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) deal but directed that the cases — one filed by plan participants in 2022 and the other filed the U. S. Department of Labor in 2024 — proceed on the same schedule. . . .