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Breach of Duty Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Corporate Counsel

Littler

Littler Lightbulb – May Employment Appellate Roundup

Littler on

Fourth Circuit Dismisses White Employee’s Race, Gender, and Retaliation Claims - Barnhill v. Pamela Bondi, __ F.4th __ (4th Cir. May 15, 2025) involved claims by a white Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration...more

Pullman & Comley - Labor, Employment and...

Retirement Plan Update – Forfeitures are New Focus of Fiduciary Breach Litigation

Many employer-sponsored defined contributions plans, including 401(k) profit sharing plans and money purchase pension plans include a vesting schedule – a period over which a plan participant earns a nonforfeitable right to...more

Mintz

Federal Judge Certifies Class Objecting to ESG Investments by Retirement Fund

Mintz on

On May 22, 2024, Judge O'Connor (N.D. Tex.) ordered that the plaintiffs claiming that investment managers breached their fiduciary duty due to their ESG-focused investing be certified as a class for purposes of the...more

Mintz

Texas Court Rules ESG Lawsuit Against Employer's 401(k) Plan Can Proceed

Mintz on

Recently, a Texas federal court denied the defendants' motion to dismiss in a lawsuit featuring allegations that an employer's 401(k) plan, which allegedly relied on ESG principles when making investments, violated ERISA. ...more

ArentFox Schiff

Airline 401k Decision Illustrates Continued Takeoff of ESG Litigation

ArentFox Schiff on

A Texas federal judge recently permitted an environmental, social, and governance- (ESG) related Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) case filed by an airline pilot against his employer and its benefits plan to...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

ERISA Litigation Roundup: Seventh Circuit Sets Forth Pleading Standard in ERISA Duty of Prudence Claims in Hughes v. Northwestern...

On March 23, 2023, the Seventh Circuit issued a long-awaited decision in Hughes v. Northwestern University, the case remanded from the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision of the same name. See Hughes v. Northwestern University, 142...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

ERISA Case Signals New Theories for Plaintiffs’ Bar

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: After focusing most of its attention on retirement benefit plans, a recent complaint filed in the District of Connecticut shows that the plaintiffs’ bar is turning to health and welfare plans as targets for...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Tenth Circuit Holds Arbitration Provision in ERISA Plan Document Unenforceable

Troutman Pepper Locke on

Recently, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held an arbitration provision impermissibly blocked rights afforded to a retirement plan participant under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and was therefore...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Failure to Identify Sound Comparisons Sinks ERISA Fee, Investment Claims in Eighth Circuit

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Plaintiffs must plead a “sound basis for comparison—a meaningful benchmark” — to sustain their claims of imprudent investment and excessive fee against a 401(k) plan, the federal appeals court in St. Louis has held,...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Eighth Circuit Joins Growing Number of Courts Rejecting Common ERISA Fee and Investment Claims

In Matousek v. MidAmerican Energy Co., 2022 WL 6880771, __ F.4th __ (8th Cir. 2022), the Eighth Circuit joined the Sixth and Seventh Circuits in affirming dismissal of ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claims alleging that the...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

A Light in the Dark: Seventh Circuit Helps Clarify New Pleading Standards for 401(k) Fee Cases

A recent US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit case supplies answers to many questions left open in 401(k) fee litigation cases after the US Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year in Hughes v. Northwestern University....more

Fox Rothschild LLP

In ERISA Excessive Fee Cases, the Pendulum May Be Swinging Back In Favor of Plan Sponsors

Fox Rothschild LLP on

A new decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in a so-called “excessive fee” case is good news for plan sponsors, particularly following the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year in Hughes v....more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

ERISA Litigation Roundup: In the Aftermath of Hughes, Seventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Excessive Fee Lawsuit

On August 29, 2022, the Seventh Circuit decided Albert v. Oshkosh Corporation, affirming a district court’s dismissal of breach of fiduciary claims related to Oshkosh Corporation’s management of its 401(k) plan, and striking...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Sixth Circuit Rejects Arbitration for Proposed Fiduciary Breach Class Action

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

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

ERISA Litigation Roundup: Ninth Circuit Partially Reverses Dismissal of Two Proposed Class Actions

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit partially reversed the dismissal of two proposed class actions alleging mismanagement of separate 401(k) plans in violation of ERISA. In Davis v. Salesforce.com, Inc., 2022 WL...more

McGuireWoods LLP

U.S. Supreme Court Reinforces ERISA Fiduciary Duty to Monitor Investment Options

McGuireWoods LLP on

On Jan. 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s ruling in Hughes v. Northwestern University, and remanded the case for further consideration, bringing new life to current...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

ERISA Litigation Roundup: Fifth Circuit Affirms Decision in Favor of American Airlines in Suit Over Plan Investment Alternative...

On July 19, 2021, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Ortiz v. American Airlines, upholding the dismissal of a class action lawsuit filed against American Airlines, the American Airlines Pension Asset...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

ERISA Litigation Roundup: A Ninth Circuit Ruling Reminds ERISA Plans of the Importance of Administrative Accuracy

The Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Bafford v. Northrop Grumman (April 15, 2021) affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ breach of fiduciary duty claims under ERISA but vacated the district court’s...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Ninth Circuit Enforces Forum Selection Clause in 401(k) Plan

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

Groom Law Group, Chartered

Cybertheft Lawsuit: Court Dismisses Fiduciary Breach Claims Against Plan Sponsor for a Second Time

On February 8, 2021, in the latest turn in the saga of a closely-watched ERISA cybersecurity lawsuit, the Northern District of Illinois again dismissed fiduciary breach claims against Abbott Laboratories (“Abbott Labs”)...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Stock Drop Litigation Cases Are On The Rise: Will Your Retirement Plan Be A Target?

Vinson & Elkins LLP on

Key Takeaways- •Stock price plunges caused by COVID and current market conditions create fertile ground for stockholder litigation, including claims by participants in retirement plans funded with employer securities that...more

Cozen O'Connor

ERISA Fiduciaries Get Protection as a result of High Court Ruling

Cozen O'Connor on

This week’s ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court is potentially positive news and has promising favorable future implications for fiduciaries of ERISA-regulated employee pension plans who might be faced with allegations of...more

Fisher Phillips

SCOTUS ERISA Ruling May Open Floodgates For Increased Lawsuits

Fisher Phillips on

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court just declined to limit the timeframe in which disgruntled employees could bring suit challenging the investment decisions made by plan fiduciaries. While the Employee Retirement...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

2019-20 Supreme Court Update

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2019-20 term is receiving substantial attention for cases involving signature initiatives of President Donald Trump’s administration. But the Court also maintains an extensive docket directly relevant...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

U.S. Supreme Court’s 2019-2020 Term Includes Three ERISA Cases

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It has been several years since the US Supreme Court issued a decision in a case involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). In the upcoming term, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review three...more

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