Podcast: Discussing and Demystifying the IRS News Release on ESOPs
Investment Management Update – Exit Strategies
ESOPs can pay fair market value for the stock: Stock purchased by an ESOP must be appraised by an independent third party expert working with a trustee for the ESOP who must also be independent from the seller. The ESOP is...more
The Seventh Circuit ruled recently that ERISA does not preempt certain state law claims against directors and officers because ERISA’s text and purpose contemplate parallel corporate state-law liability against executives who...more
“Employer securities” in retirement plans have been the source of a significant amount of litigation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). In general, “employer securities” are...more
The United States Supreme Court, in a per curiam decision, declined to address whether plan participants sufficiently alleged breach of fiduciary duty claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as...more
In January, the Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated opinion in Retirement Plans Committee of IBM v. Jander, No. 18-1165, a case that promised to clarify the pleading standard applicable to ERISA stock-drop cases. But...more
Brief Takeaway: Plan sponsors that offer employer stock in their benefit plans can breathe a sigh of relief, as the Supreme Court vacated one of the only plaintiff-friendly rulings in ERISA “stock drop” litigation. ...more
In Retirement Plans Committee of IBM v. Jander, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, clarified the its opinion in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, 573 U.S. 409 (2014), which set forth the duties that administrators...more
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued two opinions: Ritzen Group, Inc. v. Jackson Masonry, LLC, No. 18-938: After petitioner Ritzen Group brought a breach of contract claim against respondent Jackson Masonry...more
The United States Supreme Court issued a per curiam opinion on Tuesday in Retirement Plans Committee of IBM v Jander, punting back to the court of appeals the determination of whether plan fiduciaries can be liable under...more
On January 14, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Retirement Plans Committee of IBM v. Jander, No. 18-1165, remanding the case to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to decide whether to address the views of...more
The U.S. Supreme Court today in Retirement Plans Committee of IBM v. Jander, No. 18-1165 (2020) (per curiam), declined to resolve questions about the pleading standard for a breach of fiduciary duty claim against fiduciaries...more
On November 6, 2019, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument for Retirement Plans Committee of IBM v. Jander to expand on its “more harm than good” pleading standard articulated in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer. Both...more
The upcoming term of the U.S. Supreme Court is shaping up to be a busy one with respect to cases arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). There have been other terms with multiple ERISA...more
• The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a fifth settlement agreement with the trustee of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The agreement was entered into in connection with a recently settled case relating to...more
On the heels of a recent settlement agreement with an institutional employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) trustee, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and individual trustee James F. Joyner III (Joyner) entered into a...more
• The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and First Bankers Trust Services Inc. (FBTS) have entered into a settlement agreement filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, resolving a case challenging FBTS'...more
On June 5, 2017, in Pioneer Centres Holding Co. Employee Stock Ownership Plan & Trust v. Alerus Fin., N.A., Case No. 15-1227, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that the plaintiff bears the burden on each...more
A district court in Rhode Island dismissed claims by participants in the CVS Employee Stock Ownership Plan that plan fiduciaries imprudently invested plan assets in the plan’s stable value fund...more
In my practice, I always talk about how plan fiduciaries can be held personally liable for any issues regarding their retirement plan. Many plan sponsors just don’t pay any attention to that threat until they see it happen to...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit's Aug. 25, 2016, decision in Allen v. GreatBanc Trust Co., No. 15-3569, made it the first court in a published opinion to expressly reject Fifth Third Bancorp v....more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed on May 3, 2016, the holdings of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi on numerous issues involving the sale of closely held stock from a...more
A federal district court in Georgia held that plan fiduciaries of a closely-held company’s single stock ERISA fund may have a duty to disclose material, non-public information concerning the value of the company’s shares when...more
The Supreme Court recently agreed to resolve a circuit split on the pleading requirements for claims that ERISA fiduciaries imprudently invested employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) assets in the stock of the...more
On December 13, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Dudenhoeffer v. Fifth Third Bancorp, et al., No. 12-751, to review a decision by the Sixth Circuit reversing dismissal of a complaint in an ERISA stock drop...more