Colin M. Downes

Tel: (202) 734-7383 | Email: colin@bartondownes.com

  • District of Columbia

    New York

    United States District Court for the District of Columbia

    United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

    United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

  • University of Virginia School of Law, J.D.

    University of Massachusetts, B.A. (Philosophy)

  • Gamino v. KPC Healthcare Holdings, Inc., 5:20-cv-01126-SB-SHK (C.D. Cal.): Mr. Downes was co-counsel for the plaintiff and a class of participants and beneficiaries of the KPC Healthcare, Inc. ESOP. The plaintiff alleged that the ESOP paid more than fair market value for company stock in a 2015 ESOP transaction. The case has settled against two groups of Defendants for a total of $9 million. Those settlements are pending final approval.

    Cunningham v. Wawa, Inc., No. 2:18-cv-03355-PD (E.D. Pa.): Mr. Downes was co-counsel for plaintiffs in this class action on behalf of certain terminated employee participants of the Wawa ESOP. Plaintiffs alleged that 2014 and 2015 amendments to the ESOP and subsequent forced liquidation of the class members’ company stock violated ERISA. The settlement, approved in April 2021, resulted in a payment of $21,625,000 on behalf of the class.

    Woznicki v. Raydon Corp., No. 618CV2090ORL78GJK (M.D. Fla.): Mr. Downes was co-counsel for plaintiff and a class of participants and beneficiaries of the Raydon Corporation ESOP. The plaintiff alleged that the ESOP paid more than fair market value in a September 2015 ESOP transaction. The case settled for $2.4 million.

    Hurtado v. Rainbow Disposal Co., Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan Committee, 8:17-cv-01605-JLS-DFM (C.D. Cal.): Mr. Downes was co-counsel for the plaintiffs and a class of participants and beneficiaries of the Rainbow Disposal ESOP who alleged the plan had sold company stock to Republic Services, Inc. in 2014 for below fair market value and for the improper benefit of corporate insiders and fiduciaries of the plan. The settlement of $7.9 million was approved by the court in 2021.

  • "ESG Investing and Litigation Risk after Thole," ABA Labor and Employment Law Newsletter, Spring 2023

    “Navigating requests for class contact information before class certification,” Daily Journal, December 27, 2022

    Presentation: ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, ERISA Basics 2022, “Subrogation and Reimbursement Claims”

    ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, ERISA Basics 2021, “Subrogation and Reimbursement Claims”

    Presentation: ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits, Annual Midwinter Meeting 2020, “Top Ten Employee Benefits Topics of 2019”

    Appointing Chapter 11 Trustees in Reorganizations of Religious Institutions, 101 Va. L. Rev. 2225 (2015)

    "Greek Gangs: States should treat rogue fraternities as criminal organizations and seize their assets," The Slate, December 5, 2014

Colin M. Downes is a partner of the firm with experience litigating a wide range of employee benefits cases in federal and state trial and appellate courts across the country. This experience includes complex class action cases brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) involving employee stock ownership plans, allegations of breaches of fiduciary duty and prohibited transactions, excessive 401k and 403b fees, improper compensation for plan fiduciaries, pension plan underfunding, and the ERISA obligations of religiously affiliated nonprofits. He has also litigated both individual and class claims brought under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) on behalf of military reservists and veterans.

Prior to co-founding Barton & Downes LLP, Colin was an associate with the class action litigation boutique Block & Leviton LLP. He also previously practiced with the defense-side employee benefits boutique Groom Law Group, Chartered and the international law firm Clifford Chance LLP. At Groom, Colin’s practice centered on representing employee benefit plan fiduciaries in ERISA actions brought by plan participants or by the United States Department of Labor. And at Clifford Chance, where Colin began his law practice, he represented business clients in large, cross-border transactions including secured lending facilities, asset-backed securitizations (including of aircraft leases, residential mortgages, and viatical settlements), corporate reorganizations, mergers, and acquisitions, as well as in policyholder-side insurance coverage matters, maritime foreclosure/asset recovery actions, and syndicated lender representations in bankruptcy proceedings. Colin’s exposure both to defense-side ERISA representations and to a variety of sophisticated corporate advisory engagements has provided Colin with broad commercial perspective and experience that has proven invaluable in his representation of plaintiffs in complex employee benefits litigation.

Colin attended law school at the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as an editor of the Virginia Law Review and an executive editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law. While at UVA, he participated in the Phillips C. Jessup International Moot Court, twice qualifying to the international rounds. And he received both the Robert E. Goldsten Award for his contributions to classroom discussion and recitation and the Bracewell & Giulani Award for outstanding oral advocacy.

In addition to his professional activities, Colin coaches high school debate at Sidwell Friends School and is active in the parish life of the Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes in Washington, D.C.