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Supreme Court of the United States › Excessive Fees › Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

The United States Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States and is charged with interpreting federal law, including the United States Constitution. The Court's docket is largely discretionary... more +
The United States Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States and is charged with interpreting federal law, including the United States Constitution. The Court's docket is largely discretionary with only a limited number of cases granted review each term.  The Court is comprised of one chief justice and eight associate justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to hold lifetime positions. less -
Fisher Phillips

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

Fisher Phillips on

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

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Cornell case makes it easier for plan participants to sue

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C. on

For years, I observed that federal courts were growing weary of cases involving fee litigation, but then the Supreme Court changed that perspective....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

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

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Northwestern University’s Alternative Explanations Not Strong Enough To Defeat ERISA Excessive Fee Claims

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive... on

On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit issued its opinion in Hughes v. Northwestern University, concluding that participants in two Northwestern 403(b) plans plausibly pled fiduciary-breach claims based on...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

7th Circuit Ruling Sheds Light Into the post-Hughes 401(k) Litigation Era

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Since the Supreme Court’s January ruling in Hughes v. Northwestern University, circuit courts throughout the country have issued varying rulings regarding 401(k) fee litigation cases. These include the Ninth Circuit in Trader...more

Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP

Plan Sponsors on Alert After Recent Supreme Court Decision

Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP on

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

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP on

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

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

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial on

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...

Goodwin on

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...

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

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

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on

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

Unanimous Supreme Court Overturns Court of Appeals in Northwestern University 403(b) Plans Excessive Fee Case

Verrill on

The United States Supreme Court has agreed with participants in two 403(b) plans sponsored by Northwestern University that their lawsuit, alleging that plan recordkeeping and investment fees were excessive, should not have...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

SCOTUS Revives ERISA Participants’ Excessive Fee Claims Against University

Fox Rothschild LLP on

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of participants in the Northwestern University retirement plans, breathing life again to their breach of fiduciary duty claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). ...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Supreme Court Vacates Seventh Circuit Decision in Fee Case, But Reiterates Rigorous Pleading Standard Applies

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in Hughes v. Northwestern University, No. 19-1401, just one of more than 150 similar class action suits filed around the country in the last few years. The case was...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Supreme Court Struggles to Apply “Twiqbal” in Retirement Plan Fee Cases

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Hughes v. Northwestern University, No. 19-1401, just one of about 150 similar class action suits filed around the country in the last few years. The case was brought by...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

The ERISA Litigation Newsletter - January 2016

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Editor's Overview - Happy New Year! Because 401(k) plans play an increasingly prominent role as an employee's principal retirement investment vehicle, fiduciaries overseeing those plans face increased pressure to see...more

Goodwin

Supreme Court Vacates Decision Applying Statute of Limitations in Excessive Fee Case

Goodwin on

In a highly anticipated decision concerning 401(k) excessive fee litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in Tibble v. Edison, Int’l, No. 13-550, vacating the lower court’s decision that had found...more

Goodwin

Supreme Court Urged to Consider Excessive Fee Case

Goodwin on

The Supreme Court will soon announce whether it will address the scope of ERISA’s six-year statute of repose when applied to a claim that investments selected more than six years before suit commenced were imprudent due to...more

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