More than 100 former Dresdner Kleinwort investment bankers are suing their former employer for $66 million in unpaid bonuses.  The 104 bankers claim the firm had promised at the end of 2008 to pay guaranteed bonuses to help retain staff members at a time when the bank was in turmoil and a takeover target.  However, Dresdner Bank sold the investment firm to Commerzbank, and only 10% of the promised bonuses were handed out.  Hearings are scheduled to start Wednesday and could last for 16 days. High Profile Case. This case will be closely watched because bonus class action lawsuits are unusual, and because some prominent bankers are to testify.  Martin Blessing, CEO of Germany’s Commerzbank, is due in court later this month.  Stefan Jentzsch, ex-CEO of Dresdner Kleinwort - who's now a senior banker at Perella Weinberg Partners in London - also could appear.

“It’s the first bonus class action case I can remember in the U.K.  With banks, bonuses are usually discretionary and therefore based on an individual basis. But in this case there are some common issues.” -- Adrian Crawford, employment partner at law firm Kingsley Napley.

Another sensitive element of the case is that defendant Commerzbank had to be bailed out by the German government at the beginning of 2009 after taking over Dresdner Bank.  Commerzbank, said Mr. Crawford, is not really in a position to justify paying millions of euros in bonuses to bankers. The bankers’ lawyers argue that ... Dresdner's Jentzsch repeatedly promised a guaranteed bonus pool of 400mn euros for employees in the front and middle office at Dresdner Kleinwort, to be paid in January 2009.  The promises were made at different staff meetings and a so-called town hall meeting broadcast.  After the Commerzbank takeover, the bankers were informed in February that their bonus awards would be cut by 90%. For further details, go to:  [DealBook, 1/24/12].