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Prohibited Transactions Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Employee Benefits

Mayer Brown

The Current State of the Law in ERISA Forfeitures Cases

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Since September 2023, ERISA plaintiff’s firms have filed approximately 60 class action lawsuits challenging the longstanding practice of plan sponsors using plan forfeitures to offset their employer contributions in 401(k)...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

Maynard Nexsen

Navigating Increased ERISA Litigation Risk Post-Cunningham: How to Protect Your Plan

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Under the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University, No. 23-1007 (April 17, 2025), plaintiffs asserting that ERISA plan administrators engaged in prohibited transactions under ERISA Section 406 are...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Supreme Court lowers pleading standard for ERISA prohibited transaction claims

The US Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision on April 17, 2025 that could have a lasting impact on retirement plan litigation. The decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University clarifies that when plaintiffs bring...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

Supreme Court Ruling Makes It Easier for Participants To Sue Plan Fiduciaries

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On April 17, the Supreme Court unanimously resolved a circuit split in Cunningham v. Cornell University, holding that plan participants need only allege that fiduciaries engaged in a “prohibited transaction” under the...more

Littler

The Supreme Court Relieves ERISA Plaintiffs of a Pleading Requirement: What’s Next for ERISA Plan Fiduciaries?

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On April 17, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that dealt a blow to benefit plan fiduciaries nationwide. The Court unanimously held in Cunningham v. Cornell University that a plaintiff asserting that a plan and...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Supreme Court Decision Means Defense of ERISA Prohibited Transaction Claims Just Got More Difficult and More Protracted

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On April 17, 2025, the Supreme Court decided Cunningham v. Cornell University, unanimously holding that a plaintiff can state a valid claim under ERISA by merely alleging that a plan used “plan assets” to pay a service...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Supreme Court Ruling Eases Path for ERISA Prohibited Transaction Claims

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The U.S. Supreme Court on April 17, 2025, issued a greatly anticipated decision in which the justices unanimously held that plaintiffs alleging a prohibited transaction under Section 1106(a)(1)(C) of the Employee Retirement...more

Miller Canfield

ERISA in the Supreme Court: Implications of Cunningham v Cornell University

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On April 17, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Cunningham v Cornell University, addressing the pleading standard applicable to prohibited transaction claims under the Employee Retirement Income...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Supreme Court Lowers Bar to Pleading Prohibited Transactions, Despite “Serious Concerns” of Meritless Litigation

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In a unanimous decision reversing dismissal of prohibited transaction claims based on fees paid to defined contribution plan recordkeepers, the Supreme Court held that ERISA’s prohibited transaction exemptions are affirmative...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

Long Awaited ESOP Proposals Issued and Then Quickly Withdrawn

On January 20, 2025, an executive order froze two new pieces of proposed employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) guidance announced in a notice of proposed rulemaking and originally set for publication in the Federal Register on...more

Morgan Lewis

DOL’s VFCP Final Rule Adds Limited ‘Self-Correction’ Program for Late Contributions, Participant Loan Failures

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The Employee Benefits Security Administration recently released its final rule amending and restating the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program, along with corresponding amendments to a related class exemption, Prohibited...more

Holland & Knight LLP

The Rise and Fall of the DOL's Long-Anticipated Proposed Regulation on "Adequate Consideration"

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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Jan. 16, 2025, released its long-awaited proposed regulation interpreting the definition of "adequate consideration" as applied to private company stock acquired or sold by an employee...more

Shipman & Goodwin LLP

Plan Forfeiture Litigation: A Trend to Watch

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The most recent wave of ERISA litigation is focused on the use of plan forfeitures in 401(k) plans, with the newest case, Armenta v. WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. being filed just last week. Although, for years, many...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Trump Places DOL’s ESOP Proposals in Regulatory Moratorium

On January 16, 2025, the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released two pieces of guidance that, if finalized, would dramatically change the landscape for fiduciaries responsible...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

DLA Piper

Supreme Court Debates ERISA Exemptions in Cunningham v. Cornell University

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The US Supreme Court heard argument on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 from Cornell University and its employees over dismissal of a class action alleging that Cornell University’s retirement plan paid unreasonable recordkeeping...more

Carlton Fields

The Case of Excessive Fees: Supreme Court to Investigate Pleading Standard in ERISA Excessive Fee Litigation

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ERISA class action litigation against retirement plan fiduciaries remains a prominent feature of the legal landscape this year. These lawsuits typically involve allegations that plan fiduciaries acted imprudently in...more

K&L Gates LLP

QPAM Amendments Impact on CITs: What Banks and Their Advisers Need to Know

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Effective 17 June 2024, the US Department of Labor (DOL) adopted comprehensive amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 84-14, also known as the “QPAM exemption” (Exemption)....more

Carlton Fields

Changes for Producer Award Trips at IMOs? Fiduciary Rule Suggests Turbulence Ahead

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In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor issued its long-awaited retirement security rule, also known as the fiduciary rule, broadening the definition of who is an “investment advice fiduciary” under the Employee...more

Kilpatrick

Effective Date of DOL’s Final Investment Advice Rule and Amended PTEs Paused

Kilpatrick on

Federal District Courts in the Eastern and Northern districts of Texas issued orders on July 25th July 26th, respectively, staying the effective date of the Department of Labor’s final regulation on its “fiduciary rule,”...more

Lathrop GPM

Retirement Security Fiduciary Rule Stayed

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Under recently finalized federal regulations (commonly referred to as the “Fiduciary Rule”) that were scheduled to become effective on September 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor intended to expand the fiduciary...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

The New Fiduciary Rule (42):The Regulation and Exemptions are Stayed (2)—What Remains?

The DOL’s fiduciary regulation was scheduled to become effective this September 23. The exemptions were scheduled to become partially effective this September 23 and fully effective September 23, 2025....more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Two Texas District Courts Issue Orders Delaying the Effective Date of DOL Fiduciary Rule and Related Amendments to Seven...

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Seyfarth Synopsis: Orders issued by the Eastern District of Texas on Thursday July 25 and the Northern District of Texas on Friday July 26 indefinitely delayed the September 23, 2024 effective date of the Department of...more

Verrill

Novel 401(k) Plan Lawsuits Over the Use of Forfeitures—Swinging for the Fences or Plausible Claims?

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In our December 7, 2023 post, we noted five class action lawsuits, all filed by the same law firm within two months, in which 401(k) plan participants allege plan fiduciaries violated ERISA by using plan forfeitures to offset...more

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