ERISA Violation Legal News Articles & Interviews

Chicago, IL On March 2 attorneys for Boeing, its 401k retirement plan and the plan’s investment committee asked the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to dismiss Burke v. The Boeing Co. The defendants claim that Newport Trust Co., the plan’s investment manager, was solely responsible for any losses incurred by participants in the Boeing Voluntary Investment Plan (VIP) when the value of Boeing’s stock dropped in the aftermath of the 737 MAX 8 aircraft disasters. Newport was not named as a defendant in the ERISA lawsuit.

New York, NY Retirement plan participants who are concerned that plan administrators and service providers may be running the plan for their own benefit can extract three important lessons from Haley v. Teachers Ins. & Annuity Assoc. of America. First, the possibility that plan fiduciaries and record keepers may be engaged in self-dealing is a very hot topic. These ERISA lawsuits may involve thousands of retirement plans and exponentially more retirement savers. That many plaintiffs can spell huge liability for those who manage a plan. Second, the success of these lawsuits depends on being granted class action status; and finally, the issue of who is a fiduciary and why it matters is often central when it comes to allegations of self-dealing.

Washington, DC On January 14, the Supreme Court sent Retirement Plans Committee of IBM v. Jander, a much-watched ERISA lawsuit, back to the Second Circuit for further consideration of defensive arguments raised by the plan administrators. The decision is a setback, although perhaps not a fatal one, for participants in employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) who claim that they have been injured because of corporate financial fraud. These “stock drop” lawsuits are one of several different kinds of 401k fiduciary mismanagement lawsuits.

Collingswood, NJ On November 5, former employee, Young Cho, filed a class action ERISA lawsuit (ERISA) in the District Court for the District of New Jersey alleging that fiduciaries of the Prudential Insurance Company 401k plan breached their duty to plan participants by selecting and managing investment options to benefit Prudential, rather than retirement savers.

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.