News & Analysis as of

Class Action ERISA Litigation

A class action is a type of legal action where a representative individual or group of individuals can bring a claim on behalf of a larger group or class who share a common legal interest.
Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Northrop Grumman is target for another Schlicter case

If there’s a Mount Rushmore of ERISA class-action litigators, you better believe Jerry Schlichter’s face is carved into it—probably right next to a 408(b)(2) disclosure and a stack of mutual fund fee charts. And once again,...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Affiliated plan providers of big plans get slaughtered

Following a jury’s decision to award over $38 million to a class of more than 26,000 participants in Pentegra’s multiple employer plan, the issue of working with providers affiliated with the plan sponsor highlights the...more

Polsinelli

Supreme Court Revives ERISA Litigation Dismissed in Second Circuit: Will the Supreme Court’s Adoption of a Liberal Pleading...

Polsinelli on

On Thursday, April 17, a unanimous Supreme Court held that a less demanding pleading standard is applicable when plaintiffs bring an Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) class action under ERISA Section...more

King & Spalding

Cunningham v. Cornell University: ERISA Claims Are Now Much More Costly and Difficult to Defend

King & Spalding on

In Cunningham v. Cornell University,1 the Supreme Court unanimously held that plaintiffs who bring a prohibited transaction claim under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) are only...more

Saul Ewing LLP

The Friday Five: Five ERISA Litigation Highlights - May 2025

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This month’s Friday Five explores decisions from around the country discussing the concept of reasonableness in various forms. One court rejected the parties’ proffered definitions of the term “working” and instead determined...more

Ropes & Gray LLP

Plan Sponsors Beware: The U.S. Supreme Court Just Eased Requirements to File ERISA Prohibited Transaction Suits

Ropes & Gray LLP on

Many sponsors and fiduciaries of ERISA retirement plans had been hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Cunningham v. Cornell University (No. 23-1007) would articulate new pleading standards that would slow the...more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Benefits Monthly Minute - April 2025

The April Monthly Minute showers readers with some eye-opening case law updates, ranging from a $38.8M jury verdict in a 401(k) fee case, to a pair of cases involving Elevance (f/k/a Anthem) health plan coverage exclusions....more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

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

Lowenstein Sandler LLP on

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

DLA Piper

Supreme Court Opens the Door to Increased ERISA Litigation

DLA Piper on

The US Supreme Court has issued a unanimous opinion that could lead to an increase in litigation for prohibited transaction claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA)....more

A&O Shearman

Supreme Court’s Cornell decision sets low pleading bar for ERISA claims

A&O Shearman on

In a decision poised to change the landscape of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) litigation, on April 17, 2025, the Supreme Court held in Cunningham et al. v. Cornell University et al. that a claimant...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

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

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

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

Maynard Nexsen

Burden at the Crossroads: Pizarro Paves the Way for Potential Supreme Court Review

Maynard Nexsen on

ERISA breach of fiduciary duty class actions have surged in recent years, prompting courts to grapple with complex questions about how these claims should be pleaded and litigated. Among the most consequential and unresolved...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Split Decisions on Standing: Courts Diverge on Pension Risk Transfer Class Actions

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Two courts. Two opposite rulings. One critical question: Do plaintiffs have standing to challenge pension risk transfers under ERISA?...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

Plaintiffs Double Down on Challenges to PBM Arrangements in Class Action Lawsuits Involving Johnson & Johnson and JPMorganChase

On March 10, 2024, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint in a much-followed putative class action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”) alleging that the plan fiduciaries for J&J’s group health plan violated ERISA by...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Northern District of California Dismisses 401(k) Forfeiture Suit with Prejudice

Holland & Knight LLP on

In Hutchins v. HP Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed – with prejudice – the plaintiff's claims challenging the use of forfeited employer 401(k) contributions. This is the latest...more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Benefits Monthly Minute - October 2024

The October Monthly Minute highlights two recent retirement plan cases, one in which the court sides with the plan and emphasizes plan administrative review over specific investment results and another where plaintiffs are...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

District Court Dismisses Challenge to Use of Plan Forfeitures

A federal district court recently granted a motion to dismiss claims that defined contribution plan fiduciaries breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty and prudence, and violated ERISA’s anti-inurement and prohibited...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

The Class Action Chronicle - November 2023

Fourth Circuit Holds That Class Action Waiver Issue Must Be Decided Before Certification and Questions Narrow Issue Classes - In In re Marriott International, Inc., 78 F.4th 677 (4th Cir. 2023), a panel of the U.S. Court...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

District Court Finds Arbitration and Class Action Waiver Provision Enforceable in Retirement Plan

The Eastern District of Kentucky recently became the latest court to weigh in on arbitration and class action waiver provisions in ERISA-governed defined contribution plans. In Merrow v. Horizon Bank, the court found such a...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

District Court Breaks Trend and Allows Claims Challenging Prudence of BlackRock LifePath Index Target Date Funds to Proceed

We have previously blogged on the flurry of class action lawsuits challenging 401(k) plan investments in the BlackRock LifePath Index Target Date Funds. District courts around the country—seven of them in total—have granted...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

California Court Refuses to Decertify Class Action Based on Ninth Circuit’s Decision in Wit

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

In Wit v. United Behavioral Health, the Ninth Circuit recently rejected a lower court’s order certifying a class of participants in a dispute over behavioral health guidelines used to process claims for benefits. A California...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Excessive Recordkeeping Fee Claim Squeaks by a Motion to Dismiss

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

A federal court in Wisconsin recently allowed a putative ERISA class action in Lucero v. Credit Union Ret. Plan Ass’n to proceed to discovery on the claim that a 401(k) plan paid excessive recordkeeping fees. This decision...more

Goodwin

Appeal of Certification of Nationwide Class in ERISA Lawsuit

Goodwin on

On December 1, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated and remanded a district court’s decision to certify a class of more than 200,000 retirees alleging that collateralized loans serviced by the...more

Goodwin

Second Circuit Vacates Certification of Nationwide Class in ERISA Lawsuit

Goodwin on

On December 1, 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a district court’s certification of a nationwide class of 8,000+ retirement plans serving hundreds of thousands of participants in an ERISA action...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Magistrate Recommends 180° Course Correction on Previously Denied Motions to Dismiss In ERISA Fee Litigation Cases

In a pair of report and recommendations issued the same day, a Magistrate Judge in Wisconsin recently recommended that the district court (i) grant motions for reconsideration of prior denials of motions to dismiss claims...more

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