A federal district court in Illinois became the first court to rule that an employer’s credit for a prior partial withdrawal should be applied at the end of the statute’s “waterfall” for calculating withdrawal liability. The...more
In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Cunningham v. Cornell University that plaintiffs can satisfy the requirements for pleading prohibited party-in interest transactions under ERISA section 406(a) without...more
4/23/2025
/ Appeals ,
Article III ,
Cunningham v Cornell University ,
Employee Benefits ,
ERISA Litigation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pleading Standards ,
Retirement Plan ,
SCOTUS ,
Summary Judgment
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
A federal district court rebuffed putative class claims alleging that Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. and two of the plans it administered violated the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (“MHPAEA”) by...more
A federal district court in Massachusetts dismissed ERISA fiduciary breach and prohibited transaction claims against 401(k) plan fiduciaries, ruling that the prohibited transaction claims were time-barred and the fiduciary...more
4/18/2024
/ 401k ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Funds ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Proprietary Funds ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Statute of Limitations
Defense counsel frequently lament the difficulties of defending 401(k) investment and recordkeeping fee litigation when different judges render conflicting rulings on motions to dismiss seemingly indistinguishable...more
The decision in Bolton v. Inland Fresh Seafood Corp. of America Inc., No. 22-cv-4602 (N.D. Ga. Dec. 5, 2023)should serve as a reminder to all ERISA practitioners that, if litigating in courts of the Eleventh Circuit,...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 federal district court judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky has enforced an ESOP’s arbitration clause, sending P.L. Marketing Inc. employees’ breach of fiduciary duty claims on behalf of a putative class to individual...more
11/7/2023
/ Breach of Duty ,
Class Arbitration ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Enforcement ,
ESOP ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Waivers
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
A recent Sixth Circuit decision emphasizes the importance of maintaining correct benefit plan delegations to avoid tussles over the correct standard of review for benefit claims. In this case, the Sixth Circuit concluded...more
A recent Seventh Circuit decision affirms the principle that an ERISA severance plan can reserve to the employer discretion over who is eligible for severance benefits. The case is Carlson v. Northrop Grumman Severance Plan,...more
As plan sponsors and fiduciaries cope with the increased volume of class action Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) lawsuits, some have considered the prospects of reducing their exposure through arbitration...more
4/25/2023
/ ADEA ,
Arbitration ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Retirement Plan ,
SCOTUS
A district court in New York recently dismissed a putative class action challenging retirement plan recordkeeping and investment management fees. The case is Singh v. Deloitte LLP, No. 21-cv-8458, 2023 WL 186679 (S.D.N.Y....more
1/25/2023
/ 401k ,
Dismissals ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Management ,
New York ,
Popular ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Retirement
Two recent district court decisions add to the growing number of courts granting motions to dismiss putative ERISA class actions challenging defined contribution plan fees and investment performance. These decisions from the...more
10/14/2022
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Contributions ,
Failure To State A Claim ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary ,
Investment ,
Recordkeeping Requirements
The Sixth Circuit recently issued a mixed opinion in a 401(k) plan investment litigation. The Court upheld the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ fiduciary-breach claims relating to the investment management fees and performance...more
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
The Sixth Circuit, in a matter of first impression for that Circuit, held an arbitration clause contained in an individual employment agreement did not apply to ERISA fiduciary breach claims brought on behalf of a defined...more
5/5/2022
/ 401k ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Breach of Duty ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employment Contract ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
First Impression ,
Investment ,
Statutory Violations
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 federal district court in Florida sent a proposed ERISA breach of fiduciary duty class action to individual arbitration on the basis of a plan arbitration clause that allowed for individual relief and plan-wide injunctive...more
2/3/2022
/ 403(b) Plans ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Investment Management ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Retirement Plan
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
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal, for lack of standing, of a fiduciary breach representative action against American Airlines and its 401(k) plan investment committee. Ortiz v. American Airlines, Inc., No. 20-10817,...more
8/5/2021
/ 401k ,
American Airlines ,
Article III ,
Breach of Duty ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Management ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Retirement Plan ,
Standing