According to court documents, attorneys representing former Mazer workers were to be awarded fees and expenses of $97,666.67.
A suit was initially filed against Mazer in January 2009. Plaintiffs’ attorneys requested that the court enter a default judgment against Mazer for failure to respond. That was entered by the court five months later.
Then, in November 2009, a suit was filed against ABMD Limited in Dayton’s federal bankruptcy court. ABMD was linked to Mazer family members.
Generally, the WARN Act requires employers to give 60 days written notice in advance of mass layoffs.
On Dec. 30, 2008, Mazer, a textbook publisher and printing company with offices at 6680 Poe Ave., closed its corporate and creative services divisions and fired staff, according to an internal e-mail then obtained by the Dayton Daily News.
“A combination of events in the publishing market and the state of the general economy (have) taken their toll on Mazer Corp.,” the e-mail told employees at the time. “The Mazer family still believed in the company’s potential and recently increased its investment to continue operations, but could not secure additional funding.”
In a Facebook thread Friday morning, former employees reacted to the news. “I am glad everyone will finally get some of their money,” one Facebook user wrote.
Company executives could not be reached at the time of the closing, and it was unclear how many workers were affected. In 2006, however, the company had about 185 local employees, according to Vandalia city officials.
Messages seeking comment were left Friday for a New York attorney for former Mazer employees and the lead plaintiffs’ attorney in Springboro. A message was also left for a Cincinnati attorney representing ABMD.
Springdale-based Target Management and Leasing bought the nearly five-acre Mazer property from ABMD in May 2010.
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