The Fifth Circuit recently reversed a district court’s dismissal of claims that the fiduciaries of a 401(k) plan breached the duty of prudence under ERISA by offering participants retail share classes instead of cheaper...more
5/9/2024
/ 401k ,
Article III ,
Class Action ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary ,
Investment ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Retirement Plan ,
Reversal ,
Share Classes ,
Standing
Defense counsel frequently lament the difficulties of defending 401(k) investment and recordkeeping fee litigation when different judges render conflicting rulings on motions to dismiss seemingly indistinguishable...more
A recent Ninth Circuit decision has generated considerable controversy amongst employee benefits practitioners by holding that plan fiduciaries engaged in prohibited transactions when they amended the plan’s existing...more
9/22/2023
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Compensation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Real Party in Interest ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Service Agreements
Two District Courts have reached conflicting decisions on the same day when ruling on substantially similar allegations that plan fiduciaries violated ERISA by paying too much for recordkeeping services, with one court...more
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
4/4/2023
/ 403(b) Plans ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hughes v. Northwestern University ,
Investment Management ,
Northwestern University ,
Pleading Standards ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
SCOTUS
A district court in the Southern District of Ohio and one in the Western District of Wisconsin reached opposite conclusions on motions to dismiss claims for fiduciary breach based on allegations that recordkeeping fees were...more
A district court in New York recently dismissed a putative class action challenging retirement plan recordkeeping and investment management fees. The case is Singh v. Deloitte LLP, No. 21-cv-8458, 2023 WL 186679 (S.D.N.Y....more
1/25/2023
/ 401k ,
Dismissals ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Management ,
New York ,
Popular ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Retirement
In Matousek v. MidAmerican Energy Co., 2022 WL 6880771, __ F.4th __ (8th Cir. 2022), the Eighth Circuit joined the Sixth and Seventh Circuits in affirming dismissal of ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claims alleging that the...more
10/18/2022
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
ERISA Litigation ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment ,
Recordkeeping Requirements
One of the multitude of recent cases challenging the recordkeeping fees of 401(k) plans recently made its way to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ramos v. Banner Health, No. 20-1231, — F.3d —- (10th Cir. June 11, 2021). ...more
Editor's Overview -
In last quarter's Newsletter, we commented that all eyes were on President Trump's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, as the outcome of the appointment process can have a significant impact on the...more
10/3/2018
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Discovery ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
FRCP 26(b)(1) ,
Preemption ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Retirement Plan ,
Standing