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Benefit Plan Sponsors › Supreme Court of the United States › Excessive Fees

Fisher Phillips

Retirement Plan Fiduciaries Must Adjust to New Era of ERISA Litigation: How a Recent SCOTUS Ruling and $39M Jury Award Changed the...

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A Supreme Court decision in April made it easier for plaintiffs to keep ERISA prohibited transaction claims in play longer, and just days later a rare ERISA trial resulted in a huge win for a class of 401(k) plan...more

Carlton Fields

Considerations for Plan Sponsors in the Wake of Cunningham v. Cornell

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Excessive fee cases against plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) have been on the rise for the last decade. ERISA litigation is expanding with novel theories such as forfeiture litigation....more

Kilpatrick

The Supreme Court Delivers Troubling Decision for ERISA Excess Fee Cases

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On April 17, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion that has the potential to make it more difficult for defendants to have excess fee cases for 401(k) or 403(b) plans dismissed at an early stage of...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Supreme Court Urged to Resolve Split on ERISA Standing Requirements in Excessive Fee Cases

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Chavez v. Plan Benefit Services, Inc., 108 F.4th 297 (5th Cir. 2024), began when three employees of a single employer sued the service providers of their health and welfare benefit plan for allegedly charging excessive fees...more

Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP

Plan Sponsors on Alert After Recent Supreme Court Decision

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On January 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down an important decision affecting plan fiduciaries who select investment options available to participants in a self-directed employee retirement plan (such as a 401(k)...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

SCOTUS ERISA Fee Litigation Update: Hughes et al. v. Northwestern University

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On January 24, 2022, in a rare, unanimous 8-0 decision (Justice Barrett recused herself from the case), the Supreme Court of the United States (the “Supreme Court”) vacated a Seventh Circuit affirmation of the dismissal of...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Supreme Court Stresses Importance of Ongoing Monitoring of All ERISA Plan Investment Options

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In Hughes v. Northwestern University, current and former participants in Northwestern University's defined-contribution retirement plans filed litigation on behalf of the plans' participants asserting that the University, its...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Supreme Court Give Plaintiffs a Narrow Win in 401(k) Fee Case

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Since the first round of cases were filed in 2006, plaintiffs’ counsel have raised hundreds of lawsuits challenging the prudence of fees and investments in 401(k) plans. One of the critical issues in those cases is what needs...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

The Tide is High…Keep Holding On For More Retirement Plan Fee Litigation

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The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this week in Hughes v. Northwestern University will do nothing to stem the rising tide of retirement plan fee litigation. But the ruling doesn’t mean fiduciary breach claims are more likely to...more

Goodwin

Hughes et al v. Northwestern University et al – Supreme Court Urges Courts to Undertake a Context-Specific Scrutiny of...

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On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the Seventh Circuit’s decision in Hughes v. Northwestern University, an important ERISA case. Although the Court’s decision vacated a Seventh Circuit victory for plan sponsor...more

Miller Canfield

Important Reminder from the U.S. Supreme Court - Just Giving Plan Participants Options Is Not Enough to Satisfy the Duty of...

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KEY TAKEAWAYS - ..Plan fiduciaries have a duty of prudence to independently evaluate on an ongoing basis investments offered in a plan’s menu of options and remove any imprudent ones. ..Plan participants’ ultimate...more

Clark Hill PLC

Supreme Court Declines to Close Floodgates on 401(k) and 403(b) Fee Litigation

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The past 15 years have witnessed a steady stream of lawsuits alleging that employers’ 401(k) or 403(b) plans forced participants into underperforming or overpriced investment options, or that plan participants’ accounts were...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

U.S. Supreme Court Says Retirement Plan Must Scrutinize Expenses Even if It Offers Lower-Fee Options

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In recent years, participants in 401(k) and similar employer-sponsored retirement plans have filed class action suits alleging that the plans contain overly expensive investment options. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court...more

Verrill

Supreme Court will Hear Northwestern University 403(b) Plan Excessive Fee Case

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The United States Supreme Court will weigh in on the spate of recent lawsuits filed against colleges and universities related to the schools’ retirement plans. The Court has granted a request for review from participants in...more

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