News & Analysis as of

Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Investment Management

Troutman Pepper Locke

Texas Federal Court Allows an ERISA Fiduciary Challenge Against Alleged "ESG Investing" Without Any ESG Funds

Troutman Pepper Locke on

On January 10, 2025, in Spence v. American Airlines, a federal district court in Texas ruled that American Airlines (the company) and the committee overseeing its 401(k) plans (the committee) breached their duty of loyalty...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Do You Really Want to Be an ERISA Fiduciary?

Two recent class action lawsuits charging a breach of fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) have increased the stakes and raised important considerations regarding a plan fiduciary’s duty of...more

A&O Shearman

Texas District Court ESG ruling has broader implications for ERISA plan fiduciaries

A&O Shearman on

On January 10, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (the “Court”) held, in Spence v. American Airlines, Inc., that American Airlines (“American”) and the American Airlines Employee Benefits...more

Carey Olsen

Fund Finance Laws and Regulations 2025: Assessing Lender Risk in Fund Finance Markets (GLI chapter)

Carey Olsen on

Carey Olsen have contributed to the Global Legal Insights – Fund Finance guide by authoring a chapter on assessing lender risk in fund finance markets. As the fund finance market continues to evolve, lenders will need to...more

A&O Shearman

ESG Investing Takes A Blow In Texas Federal Court

A&O Shearman on

On January 10, 2025, Judge Reed O’Connor of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled, following a four-day bench trial, that an airline breached ERISA fiduciary duties when investing...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Judge Finds American Airlines Breached its Fiduciary Duty of Loyalty by Allowing Investment Manager to Prioritize ESG Goals with...

Fenwick & West LLP on

On January 10, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas found that American Airlines and its employee benefit committee (EBC) breached their fiduciary duty of loyalty under the Employee Retirement...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

401(k) Plan Fiduciaries Breached ERISA’s Duty of Loyalty By Allowing ESG Interests To Influence Management Of The Plan

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

Ropes & Gray LLP

Practical Takeaways from Spence v. American Airlines, Inc. for ERISA Plan Fiduciaries

Ropes & Gray LLP on

On January 10, 2025, Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas issued a much-anticipated ruling in Spence v. American Airlines, Inc., which marks the first time that a federal judge has written an on-the-merits...more

Mintz

Federal Court Rules ESG-Guided Investing of 401(k) Plan Is a Breach of Fiduciary Duty

Mintz on

Following a bench trial, Judge O'Connor (N.D. Tex.) held that “that Defendants breached their fiduciary duty by failing to loyally act solely in the retirement plan's best financial interests by allowing their corporate...more

Nossaman LLP

Relying on Loper, Fifth Circuit Sends Chevron-based decision Back to District Court, calling ESG Rule into Question

Nossaman LLP on

On July 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (“Fifth Circuit”) vacated a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (“District Court”) that upheld the U.S. Department of Labor’s...more

Goodwin

Minding the Store: Unanticipated ESG Issues Affecting ERISA Fiduciary Supervision

Goodwin on

A recent summary judgment decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in an ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) class action challenging the alleged impact of environmental, social,...more

Mayer Brown

Northern District of Texas Expands Fiduciary Exposure by Permitting ESG Proxy Voting Theory to Go to Trial

Mayer Brown on

Case Name and Number: Spence v. American Airlines, Inc., et al., No. 4:23-cv-00552 - INTRODUCTION - On June 20, 2024, Judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas (the “court”) denied a motion for summary...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

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

K&L Gates LLP

US Asset Management Regulatory Year in Review 2023

K&L Gates LLP on

It is a dramatic understatement to describe 2023 as a busy year in the United States for asset management regulation. With 24 rules adopted and 18 new rules or rule amendments proposed, the US Securities and Exchange...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Texas Federal Judge: DOL ESG Investing Rule Does Not Violate ERISA

On September 21, 2023, a Texas federal court dismissed an action commenced by more than two dozen Republican state attorneys general challenging a 2022 Department of Labor (DOL) Rule that addressed consideration of ESG...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

American Airlines Moves to Dismiss Suit Challenging Inclusion of ESG Funds in Retirement Plan

In August 2023, American Airlines, Inc. moved to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed against the airline for allegedly jeopardizing employees’ retirement savings by investing in environmental, social and governance (ESG)...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

Special DOL Proxy Voting Rule Set to Take Effect on December 1, 2023 – Potential Action Items for ERISA Fiduciary Investment...

Proskauer Rose LLP on

In late 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued final regulations (the “Final Rules”) which address the extent to which ERISA fiduciaries may consider environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors when...more

Nossaman LLP

Federal Court Rejects States’ Challenge to DOL’s ESG Investing Rule

Nossaman LLP on

On September 21, 2023, a federal judge in Texas granted summary judgment in, and thus dismissed, a lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General of 25 states and other interested parties challenging a final rule issued by the U.S....more

Seward & Kissel LLP

Action Steps for Managers of Private Investment Funds Subject to ERISA Prior to December 1, 2023 to Address the DOL’s Rule...

Seward & Kissel LLP on

If you manage a private investment fund that is subject to Title I of ERISA and is not a feeder fund (an “ERISA Fund”), you should, before December 1, 2023, take the steps described below in order to comply with the DOL’s...more

Burr & Forman

New Front in ESG Wars: Securities Industry Sues Missouri

Burr & Forman on

On August 10, 2023, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”) – a leading Wall Street industry association – filed suit to enjoin new Missouri regulations requiring investment advisors (“IA’s”) and...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Republicans Reintroduce House Bill to Limit ESG Considerations in Retirement Investing

On June 21, two Republican members of Congress renewed efforts to enact legislation that arguably would restrict investment managers from taking into account ESG considerations in investing on behalf of retirement funds. U.S....more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

ESG in the United States: A complex landscape

The United States is in the process of transitioning ESG disclosure from voluntary, market-led reporting to a regulatory-driven scheme, principally led by the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) anticipated (but...more

Jones Day

Congressional Republicans and State Attorneys General Challenge Biden Administration's ESG 401(k) Rule

Jones Day on

Republicans at the state and federal levels are challenging a Biden administration rule (the "Rule") intended to walk back Trump-era regulations restricting the ability of retirement fund managers to consider climate change...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

Beyond ESG: Proxy Voting Provisions to Know in DOL’s ESG Rule

Much has been written, on ML BeneBits and elsewhere, about the US Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) so-called “ESG Rule” issued in November 2022 (the DOL Rule). The DOL Rule, in part, addressed the appropriate factors for an...more

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