Last week, Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, issued the first-of-its-kind ruling on the merits pertaining to environmental, social, and corporate governance (“ESG”) investing...more
1/20/2025
/ 401k ,
American Airlines ,
Breach of Duty ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Retirement Plan
They say that April showers bring May flowers, but there were no flowers for ERISA plan sponsors and fiduciaries on May 1 when the Second Circuit held, in a ruling that provoked a vigorous dissenting opinion, that an ERISA...more
The Second Circuit recently held that in order to state a claim for a prohibited transaction pursuant to ERISA section 406(a)(1)(C), it is not enough to allege that a fiduciary caused the plan to compensate a service provider...more
A recent Ninth Circuit decision has generated considerable controversy amongst employee benefits practitioners by holding that plan fiduciaries engaged in prohibited transactions when they amended the plan’s existing...more
9/22/2023
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Compensation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Real Party in Interest ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Service Agreements
On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit issued its opinion in Hughes v. Northwestern University, concluding that participants in two Northwestern 403(b) plans plausibly pled fiduciary-breach claims based on...more
4/4/2023
/ 403(b) Plans ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hughes v. Northwestern University ,
Investment Management ,
Northwestern University ,
Pleading Standards ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
SCOTUS
The Seventh Circuit recently provided a ray of sunshine in what has largely been a gloomy stretch for plan sponsors and fiduciaries defending ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claims based on allegedly excessive investment and...more
9/8/2022
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Dismissals ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hughes v. Northwestern University ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
SCOTUS
In April, we wrote here about the discouraging trend of opinions allowing commonly asserted breach of fiduciary duty claims in 401(k) and 403(b) plan investment litigation to survive motions to dismiss. While it may be too...more
7/6/2022
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Breach of Duty ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hughes v. Northwestern University ,
Investment Management ,
Management Fees ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Retirement Plan
On Friday, the Ninth Circuit became the first circuit court to rule in a 401(k) plan fee and investment litigation following the Supreme Court’s January 2022 decision in Hughes v. Northwestern University, 142 S. Ct. 737...more
4/12/2022
/ 401k ,
Breach of Duty ,
Employee Benefits ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Management ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Mutual Funds ,
Retirement Plan ,
Salesforce ,
Share Classes
A South Carolina federal district court denied plaintiffs’ demand for a jury trial in an ERISA fiduciary-breach action. The court held that, because federal courts in the Fourth Circuit and elsewhere have consistently held...more
On April 1, 2021, the Ninth Circuit became the third circuit court to conclude that a forum-selection clause in an ERISA 401(k) plan is enforceable. The Ninth Circuit thus denied a petition for mandamus seeking to overturn a...more
4/7/2021
/ 401k ,
Breach of Duty ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Forum Selection ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Venue ,
Writ of Mandamus
Four ERISA plan participants, who participated in four different ERISA plans, commenced an ERISA class action against four of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), alleging that the PBMs breached their...more
Among the many claims brought by plaintiffs challenging investment offerings in defined contribution plans is the claim that plans should offer stable value funds in lieu of more conservative capital preservation funds, such...more
8/18/2020
/ 401k ,
American Airlines ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
Popular ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Standing
A federal district court in Illinois recently dismissed “excessive fee” and “imprudent investment” claims against the plan fiduciaries of the CareerBuilder 401(k) plan fiduciaries, relying largely on the Seventh Circuit’s...more
7/10/2020
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Retirement Plan ,
Self-Dealing
The Fifth Circuit in Schweitzer v. Inv. Comm. of Phillips 66 Sav. Plan dismissed claims against 401(k) plan fiduciaries related to allowing plan participants to hold a single stock that was not an employer security as a plan...more
Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a decision by the Eighth Circuit holding that ERISA plan participants lack Article III standing to sue for breach of fiduciary duty to recover investment losses in a defined...more
6/2/2020
/ Article III ,
Breach of Duty ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Investment Adviser ,
Mismanagement ,
Pensions ,
Plan Participants ,
Retirement Plan ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Thole v U.S. Bank
Editor's Overview -
Happy New Year. We wrap-up 2019 with an article that reflects on significant developments in ERISA litigation during 2019, and takes a look at what's on the horizon for 2020. The courts (at all levels)...more
1/17/2020
/ 401k ,
Affordable Care Act ,
American Arbitration Association ,
Arbitration ,
Article III ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Best Practices ,
Breach of Duty ,
Cadillac Tax ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Individual Mandate ,
Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee v. Sulyma ,
IRS ,
Loss Causation ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
Pleading Standards ,
Retirement Plan ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Thole v U.S. Bank ,
Venue
In this edition of our Newsletter, we take a look at a pair of cases that, while unrelated, together remind us of the importance of having clear plan rules in place that reflect the plan sponsor’s intention. The first article...more
10/11/2019
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) ,
Pensions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
Standing ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Withdrawal Liability
Over the past several years, the ERISA plaintiffs’ bar has targeted university-sponsored 403(b) plans, arguing that the plan fiduciaries breached their fiduciary duties and engaged in prohibited transactions in connection...more
Editor's Overview -
We often talk about the importance of evaluating whether there are any procedural obstacles to plaintiffs pursuing their ERISA claims, particularly in complex, class actions where it may not be...more
4/3/2019
/ Administrative Remedies ,
Article III ,
Breach of Duty ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Discovery ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Harm ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
IRS ,
Notice Requirements ,
Standard of Review ,
Standing
As we closed the door on 2018, we were met by two surprising decisions—one from a panel of the Second Circuit addressing employer stock drop litigation, and one from a federal district court in Texas declaring the entire...more
1/11/2019
/ 403(b) Plans ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Amgen v Harris ,
Breach of Duty ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
FIfth Third Bancorp v Dudenhoeffer ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
Plan Administrators ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Section 409A ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Drop Litigation ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
The Ninth Circuit held that employees’ agreements to arbitrate all claims the employees may have did not extend to claims brought on behalf of two ERISA plans under ERISA § 502(a)(2). In so ruling, the Court explained that...more
As we head into the thick of summer, all eyes are on President Trump's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and the impact the new Justice will have on shaping the law for...more
7/11/2018
/ 21st Century Cures Act ,
401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Beneficiaries ,
Bi-Partison Balanced Budget Act (BBA) ,
Breach of Duty ,
Clawbacks ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
HDHP ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
IRS ,
MHPAEA ,
Murder ,
Plan Administrators ,
Preemption ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Retirement Plan ,
Slayer Statutes
Despite the change in seasons, there appears to be no change in the pace of complex and class action ERISA litigation. Investments in defined contribution plans—both 401(k) and 403(b) plans—continue to be the leading target...more
4/11/2018
/ 401k ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Bi-Partison Balanced Budget Act (BBA) ,
Books & Records ,
Breach of Duty ,
Cadillac Tax ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disability Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRS ,
Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) ,
Mutual Funds ,
National Association for Fixed Annuities (NAFA) ,
Retirement Plan ,
Self-Dealing ,
Standing
Editor's Overview - As we have observed on other occasions, the ERISA class action plaintiffs' bar has, for several years now, honed in on 401(k) plan fiduciaries and their decisions to select and retain investment options...more
10/4/2017
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
AARP ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Delays ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disability Benefits ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Form 5500 ,
GINA ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Hurricane Harvey ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investors ,
IRS ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
OMB ,
PBGC ,
Pensions ,
Preventive Health Care ,
Principal Transaction Exemption ,
Retirement Plan ,
Self-Dealing ,
Twombly/Iqbal Pleading Standard ,
Universities ,
Wellness Programs
On August 30, 2017, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) officially proposed delaying the applicability date of exemptions to its fiduciary rule until July 1, 2019. The proposal was expected after DOL stated in a court filing...more
8/31/2017
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Breach of Duty ,
Delays ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Field Assistance Bulletins ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRS ,
Mitigation ,
OMB ,
Principal Transaction Exemption ,
Private Right of Action ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Trump Administration ,
Written Agreements