News & Analysis as of

Fiduciary Duty 401k Plan Participants

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Forfeitures and Fiduciary Risk: What Plan Sponsors Need to Know Now

Forfeitures have long been a sleepy corner of 401(k) plan administration, but recent class-action lawsuits are waking everyone up....more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

When Grey Wins: Natixis Beats ERISA Challenge with Process, Not Perfection

In the world of ERISA litigation, process often trumps perfection. That was the story in Waldner v. Natixis, where a federal judge dismissed claims that Natixis and its plan committee acted disloyally and imprudently by...more

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

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Second Circuit Adopts “Meaningful Benchmark” Pleading Standard in ERISA Cases

In Singh v. Deloitte LLP, et al., No. 23-1108, 2024 WL 5049345 (2d Cir. Dec. 10, 2024), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s dismissal of a complaint alleging that plan fiduciaries caused an...more

Laner Muchin, Ltd.

DOL Warns Against Plan Investments in Cryptocurrency

Laner Muchin, Ltd. on

Given the current market volatility, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) concerns related to the addition of cryptocurrencies in qualified retirement plans seems prescient. In Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-01, the...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

DOL Warns Employers About Including Cryptocurrency in 401(k) Plan Investment Options

Late last month, Fidelity Investments created a minor firestorm when it announced that it would allow retirement plan sponsors to offer bitcoin as an investment option for participants. In reaction to this move, the...more

Goodwin

Cryptocurrencies As Investment Options In 401(k) Plans

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On March 10, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a Compliance Assistance Release (the “Release”) addressing its views on the availability of cryptocurrencies on 401(k) investment platforms. This guidance comes...more

Harris Beach Murtha PLLC

DOL Raises “Serious Concerns” About 401(k) Plan Investments in Cryptocurrencies

On March 10, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-01 (the “Release”, available here) which cautions ERISA plan fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” before they consider...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

When Are Cryptocurrencies Appropriate Investments for Retirement Plans and IRAs? DOL Cautions 401(k) Plan Fiduciaries to Exercise...

Cryptocurrencies and digital assets—such as bitcoin, ether and non-fungible tokens (NFTs)—have become some of the hottest investment products in recent years. The growing interest has inevitably led to retirement plan...more

Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP

Plan Sponsors on Alert After Recent Supreme Court Decision

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

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

Holland & Knight LLP on

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

District Court Issues First Post-Northwestern University 401(k) “Fee” Decision

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Just this month, the Supreme Court issued its much anticipated decision in Northwestern University, the first time the Court has been called upon to examine a lawsuit alleging that a 401(k) plan’s investment and fees were...more

Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP

Supreme Court Issues Opinion In Hughes V. Northwestern University ERISA Case

On Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an important decision dealing with defined contribution retirement plans. These plans, which include 401(k) plans, provide an array of investment choices from which...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

District Court Declines to Dismiss 401(k) Fee Litigation Case in First Decision Post-Hughes

In the first decision since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Hughes v. Northwestern Univ., No. 19-1401, 595 U.S. ___ (U.S. Jan. 24, 2022), a Georgia federal district court held in favor of plaintiffs and declined to dismiss...more

Miller Canfield

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

Miller Canfield on

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

Troutman Pepper Locke

U.S. Supreme Court Decision Potentially Opens Floodgates for ERISA Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims

Troutman Pepper Locke on

On January 24, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, ruled in Hughes v. Northwestern University that offering an array of allegedly prudent investment choices within the plan does not serve as a categorial defense...more

Snell & Wilmer

More is Not Always Better: Supreme Court Reexamines Fiduciary Duty of Prudence

Snell & Wilmer on

In what may be one of the shortest decisions this term, the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous six-page opinion on January 24, 2022 in Hughes v. Northwestern University. Vacating the Seventh Circuit’s decision, the Court...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

The Supreme Court’s Northwestern Decision – A Win for Plaintiffs but a Possible Turn In the Tide?

On January 24, 2022, in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court in Hughes v. Northwestern reinstated the long-running case against Northwestern University by sending the case back to the lower courts for further review. ...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

U.S. Supreme Court Weighs in on ERISA Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claim in Hughes v. Northwestern University

Ballard Spahr LLP on

Summary - The U.S. Supreme Court this week unanimously decided an ERISA fiduciary duty case, Hughes v. Northwestern University, which will impact dozens of similar cases currently pending against fiduciaries of section...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

The Supreme Court Declines to Establish Pleading Standard for Defined Contribution Plan Excessive Fee Litigation

To the disappointment of many in the ERISA community, the Supreme Court issued a six-page opinion on January 24th that declined to opine on most of the issues that were before the Court in Hughes v. Northwestern University,...more

Littler

Supreme Court Sends Case Involving ERISA Breach of Fiduciary Duty Pleading Standard Back to Seventh Circuit for Revised Analysis

Littler on

On Monday, January 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in a case of critical interest to employers offering 401(k) or other defined-contribution retirement plans.  In Hughes v. Northwestern University, Case No....more

Fisher Phillips

Supreme Court Revives ERISA Suit and Highlights the Necessity to Monitor Plan Investment Options: A 5-Step Compliance Roadmap

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In a unanimous decision that should serve as a wakeup call to those administrating employee retirement plans, the Supreme Court just reaffirmed and highlighted the ongoing duty of ERISA plan fiduciaries to monitor investment...more

Goodwin

ERISA Litigation Update - October 2021

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Welcome to Goodwin’s ERISA Litigation Update. Litigation involving ERISA-governed benefits plans has exploded in recent years. Lawyers in our award-winning ERISA Litigation practice have extensive experience litigating these...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Fidelity settles lawsuit for $28.5 million

Fidelity Investments settled a class-action lawsuit regarding its own 401(k) plan for $28.5 million. The class-action case alleged that Fidelity breached its fiduciary responsibility to plan participants by including its...more

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