Consumer Fraud Legal News Articles & Interviews

Washington, DC The Department of Labor (DOL) has adopted a rule that would permit, but not require, ERISA retirement plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in making financial decisions. What is generally referred to as the “2022 rule” took effect on January 30, 2023.

Santa Clara, CA The SAG-AFTRA Health Plan has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The ERISA lawsuit, initially filed in 2020 by late actor and former SAG president, Ed Asner, and nine other defendants claimed that the health plan improperly denied or terminated benefits to older performers who were entitled to them.

New York, NY On October 6, 2021, when Paula Disberry submitted a claim for benefits from the Colgate-Palmolive Company Employees Savings and Investment Plan (Plan”), she discovered that $750,000 in retirement savings was gone. She’d been robbed.

St Joseph, MO On January 30, the federal district court for the Western District of Missouri gave preliminary approval to a $5.5 million settlement that will end Lipari-Williams v. Penn National Gaming, Inc. In their class action ERISA lawsuit, casino workers claimed that the company reduced their paychecks if they used tobacco in violation of ERISA, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Missouri minimum wage laws and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Settlement amounts will vary, but members of the ERISA class are expected to pocket roughly $370 each. Final approval of the unopposed settlement offer is expected in May.

Atlanta, GA A proposed class action claiming that Cumulus Media Inc. violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act will settle for $1 million, subject to court approval . The complaint was filed in December 2022 against the radio broadcasting company by seven former employees who claimed the fee practices and investment selections of the company's 401(k) plan violated ERISA.

Cincinnati, OH The partial settlement of Berry v. FirstGroup America, which seemed like a sure thing less than a month ago, has hit a snag that may require substantial changes. The class action ERISA lawsuit alleged that FirstGroup America removed well-performing investment funds from the FirstGroup America, Inc. Retirement Savings Plan (the “Plan”) and replaced them with newly-launched Hewitt funds. The plan fiduciaries made this change at the urging of Hewitt, its investment adviser (later known as “Aon Hewitt” and now “Aon”). The results were disastrous. Plan participants allegedly lost tens of millions of dollars.

Orlando, FL On November 28, a group of former employees for defense contractor L3Harris Technologies Inc. asked the District Court for the Middle District of Florida to grant class action status to their ERISA lawsuit. Stengl v. L3Harris Technologies Inc. alleges that the fiduciaries of L3 Technologies Master Savings Plan, (the “Master Plan”) a predecessor to the L3Harris retirement plan, (the “L3Harris Plan”) failed to prudently monitor costs and investment performance of plan assets in violation of ERISA.

Hartford, CT  On October 21, 2022, the Federal District Court for the District of Connecticut held that participants in the Yale University Retirement Account Plan will have an opportunity to present their allegations of financial mismanagement to a jury. The ERISA lawsuit alleges that plan administrators violated their ERISA fiduciary duty to plan participants by allowing the plan to incur excessive costs, unreasonably delaying a decision to switch to a single recordkeeper and permitting a recordkeeper to aggressively market services outside the plan to participants. The plaintiffs in Vellali v. Yale Univ. allege that these failures cost participants millions of dollars in excess fees.

Richmond, VA On August 2, 2022, Michael Tullgren filed a class action ERISA lawsuit against Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. and fiduciaries of the company’s Capital Accumulation Plan in the Eastern District of Virginia. Tullgren v. Booz Allen Hamilton alleges that company violated its fiduciary duty under ERISA by including poorly performing BlackRock target date funds in its investment menu.

San Jose, CA On November 11, the District Court for the Northern District of California is expected to approve a settlement in Reichert v. Juniper Networks Inc. The class action ERISA lawsuit, like many before it, alleges that the fiduciaries of the Juniper Networks, Inc. 401(k) Plan breached their legal duty to plan participants because of the way that they managed the participants’ retirement savings.