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Prohibited Transactions Fiduciary Duty Benefit Plan Sponsors

Carlton Fields

Considerations for Plan Sponsors in the Wake of Cunningham v. Cornell

Carlton Fields on

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

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Do You Really Want to Be an ERISA Fiduciary?

Two recent class action lawsuits charging a breach of fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) have increased the stakes and raised important considerations regarding a plan fiduciary’s duty of...more

Baker Botts L.L.P.

SCOTUS Holds ERISA Requires No Additional Pleading Requirements beyond § 1106 Elements for Prohibited-Transaction Claims,...

Baker Botts L.L.P. on

On April 17, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States clarified the pleading requirements to bring a prohibited-transaction claim under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) in Cunningham v....more

Littler

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

Littler on

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

Husch Blackwell LLP on

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

Miller Canfield

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

Miller Canfield on

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

Venable LLP

Supreme Court Endorses Plaintiff-Friendly Prohibited Transaction Pleading Standard

Venable LLP on

On April 17, 2025, the Supreme Court resolved a circuit split on the appropriate pleading standard for a specific type of prohibited transaction claim under ERISA. While that decision may sound dry and technical, the...more

Goodwin

Supreme Court Decides Pleading Standard to Allege ERISA Prohibited-Transaction Claims, Favoring Plaintiffs

Goodwin on

Key takeaway: The Supreme Court held that to state an ERISA prohibited-transaction claim under 29 U.S.C. § 1106(a), a plaintiff needs only to plausibly allege the elements contained in § 1106(a) itself and does not need to...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

Shipman & Goodwin LLP

Plan Forfeiture Litigation: A Trend to Watch

Shipman & Goodwin LLP on

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

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

Polsinelli

Prohibited Transaction Pleading Standards To Receive Clarity From SCOTUS

Polsinelli on

Key Takeaways - In October 2024, SCOTUS granted review of Cunningham v. Cornell University to provide guidance on certain pleading standards in ERISA litigation claims, with oral arguments scheduled for January 2025....more

Verrill

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

Verrill on

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

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

The New Fiduciary Rule (23): The Final Rule Has Been Sent to the OMB

In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor released its package of proposed changes to the regulation defining fiduciary advice and to the exemptions for conflicts and compensation for investment recommendations to...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

The DOL’s Regulatory Agenda and a New Fiduciary Rule

The DOL has not appealed the decision in the Florida Federal District Court that vacated its fiduciary “re-interpretation.” That re-interpretation, in effect, said that ongoing investment advice to a rollover IRA could be...more

McDermott Will & Emery

DOL Proposes Significant Changes to VFCP Program

McDermott Will & Emery on

On November 21, 2022, the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released a proposed amendment and restatement of the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP), along with a...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Unlocking the process: Guide to ERISA individual prohibited transaction exemptions

Since 1996, the US Department of Labor granted more than 1,200 individual exemptions from the ERISA prohibited transaction rules. One of the distinctive features of ERISA is its prohibition, in ERISA section 406 as a...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Beware of that bribe

I have been a New York Giants football since the days of Ray Perkins, Brad Van Pelt, and Joe Danelo. 4 Super Bowl victories have been far more rewarding than my time as a Mets fan....more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule 3.0 - Exemption and investment advice fiduciary definition

On December 18, 2020, the US Department of Labor (DOL or Department) adopted with limited changes its Proposal 3.0 regarding ERISA fiduciary investment advice, focused on the fiduciary status of rollover advice and a “best...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

American Airlines 401(k) Plan Not Required To Offer Stable Value Fund

Among the many claims brought by plaintiffs challenging investment offerings in defined contribution plans is the claim that plans should offer stable value funds in lieu of more conservative capital preservation funds, such...more

Goodwin

U.S. Department of Labor Formalizes Reinstatement of “Five Part Test” For Fiduciary Investment Advice and Proposes Broad Principal...

Goodwin on

On June 29, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (the Department) formally reinstated its “five-part test” for determining what constitutes “investment advice” under ERISA and Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code (the...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Is Personal Information Of Retirement Plan Participants An ERISA Plan Asset?

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

A little more than one year ago, we reported on a settlement (Cassell et al. v. Vanderbilt University, et al.) involving the alleged wrongful use of personal information belonging to retirement plan participants, claimed to...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

DOL Provides Guidance Regarding 401(k) Plans Offering Limited Exposure to Private Equity Within a Diversified Investment Option

Proskauer Rose LLP on

On June 3, 2020, the Department of Labor (the "DOL") published an Information Letter confirming that an investment option under a 401(k) plan (or other defined contribution plan) may include a limited allocation to private...more

ArentFox Schiff

Buyer Beware: Health Plans Need to Exercise Caution in Retaining Third-Party Administrators and Medical Claim Reviewers

ArentFox Schiff on

A federal court in Nebraska recently rejected a health plan’s fiduciary breach claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) against third-party service providers, holding that the service providers...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

[Podcast]: ERISA’s Bonding Requirements

In this episode of the Proskauer Benefits Brief, partner Ira Bogner and senior counsel Adam Scoll discuss ERISA’s bonding requirements. ERISA’s bonding rules generally require that every fiduciary of an ERISA-covered employee...more

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