ERISA Violation Legal News Articles & Interviews

Washington, DC On January 13, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Thole v. U.S. Bank, NA, an ERISA lawsuit (ERISA) that has major implications for the rights of participants and beneficiaries to sue plan sponsors under the basic legal framework of ERISA. The defendant plan sponsor will argue that the plaintiff retirees have no standing to sue over alleged breaches of fiduciary duty because they have not suffered any individual financial loss. The defendant plan sponsor will ask the Court to affirm an Eighth Circuit decision that limits participants’ rights to oversee investment management decisions.

Oakland, CA The Dignity Health ERISA lawsuit has been exhaustively litigated since 2013, but now appears close to settlement. The proposed settlement in Rollins v. Dignity Health, which still requires final approval by the Northern District of California, would require Dignity Health to add $50 million in retirement plan funding in 2020 and at least $50 million in 2021. In addition, Dignity Health must not reduce participants’ accrued benefits because of a plan merger or amendment for 10 years. Dignity Health has also promised to fund the plan until 2024, making the minimum contribution recommended by actuaries to the plan.

New York, NY A class action ERISA lawsuit filed on October 25 in the Southern District of New York claims that Goldman Sachs Inc. and related defendants failed to administer the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. 401k plan prudently and in the best interest of participants. Instead, Falberg v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. alleges that Goldman managed the plan to benefit the company at the expense of participants. Plan fiduciaries did this by keeping many underperforming proprietary mutual funds in the investment lineup.

Washington, DCOn December 4, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments in an ERISA lawsuit that may have lasting implications for the ability of plan participants to sue over mismanagement of retirement funds. As Christopher Sulyma argues in his Supreme Court brief, ERISA plan participants should not be assumed to know about (and perhaps have consented to) suspect  financial decisions disclosed in a “Russian nesting doll” style series of linked online documents.

San Francisco, CA In August, the Ninth Circuit ruled that Charles Schwab Corp. could force plan participants to individually arbitrate their claims that fiduciaries of the Schwab Retirement Savings and Investment Plan (Plan) had mismanaged plan assets. The ERISA lawsuit decision sent shock waves through the Ninth Circuit as it appears to reverse nearly 35 years of judicial precedent about forced arbitration of ERISA claims.

San Francisco, CA Safeway and Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting Inc. have agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle a proposed class action ERISA lawsuit brought by participants in the Safeway 401k Plan. The workers claim that Safeway and Aon breached their fiduciary obligations by offering high cost investment options that benefitted the investment manager at the expense of participants.

Santa Ana, CA Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz, who mismanaged the investments of the Retirement Plan of Freedom Communications, Inc. (the Pension Plan) have offered to settle an ERISA lawsuit brought by the federal Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) for $7.8 million.

Birmingham, AL In an ERISA lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Alabama, participants in the Compass SmartInvestor 401(k) Plan claim that Plan fiduciaries failed in their legal duty to act prudently for the benefit of plan participants and beneficiaries. The Plan offered only one poorly performing short-term bond investment option and failed to monitor the investment performance of higher cost funds, ostensibly selected to produce higher yields.

Boston, MA Since the beginning of 2019, a collection of class action ERISA lawsuits has worked to expose a secret pay-to-play scheme that arguably benefited Fidelity Management and Research Company and related companies (“Fidelity”) at the expense of 401k retirement savers.

San Francisco, CA Dignity Health has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a proposed class action ERISA lawsuit that accused it of using a undeserved religious exemption to justify underfunding its pension plan by $1.5 billion. The proposed settlement would require Dignity Health to add $50 million in retirement plan funding in 2020 and at least $50 million in 2021. In addition, the settlement requires Dignity Health to refrain from reducing participants’ accrued benefits because of a plan merger or amendment for 10 years. Dignity Health has also promised to fund the plan until 2024, making the minimum contribution recommended by actuaries to the plan.