Securities Legal News Articles & Interviews

New York, NY On December 30, three former employees of Verizon Communications filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 56,000 Verizon Communications, Inc. retirees who formerly participated in either the Verizon Management Pension Plan or the Verizon Pension Plan for Associates. The breach of fiduciary duty ERISA lawsuit is the newest in a series of pension risk transfer litigation – a new twist on a familiar story because it involves old-fashioned defined benefit pension plans rather than 401k plans.

Dallas, TX A $2.25 million settlement that, if approved, will end Seidner v. Kimberly-Clark was filed on December 2 in the Northern District of Texas. The long-running class-action ERISA lawsuit alleges that fiduciaries of the Kimberly Clark Corporation 401(k) and Profit Sharing Plan breached their legal duty under ERISA by paying higher fees ($78 per participant) than what was paid (about $30 per participant) by plans of comparable size. Excessive fees erode the ultimate value of participants’ retirement savings.

Austin, TXOn November 13, plaintiffs in Winkleman v. Whole Foods filed a motion for class certification in the Western District of Texas. It’s not just that it was filed in Texas. Everything about this ERISA lawsuit is larger than life.

Fort Lauderdale, FL On October 9, Nova Southeastern University agreed to settle a long-running lawsuit in which participants in the Nova University Defined Contribution Plan claimed that the school had mismanaged their retirement savings by paying excessive recordkeeping fees and retaining underperforming investment funds. The plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary approval was unopposed.

San Diego, CA On September 24, the Southern District of California granted Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s motion to dismiss Konstantina Dimou’s ERISA lawsuit. Dimou v. Thermo Fisher Scientific claims that forfeited contributions should have been used to pay the administrative expenses of the Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 401(k) Retirement Plan rather than to offset required employer contributions. The financial difference can be significant.

Grand Rapids, MI On July 28, a three-judge panel for the Sixth Circuit heard arguments in Bradley Fleming v. Kellogg Co. a lawsuit that addresses, once again, the question of whether claims of fiduciary mismanagement against an ERISA plan can be forced into arbitration. It is significant that Fleming’s ERISA lawsuit advances claims against the Kellogg Company Savings and Investment Plan on behalf of the plan itself, as well as the plan’s individual participants. To date, the panel has not yet rendered a decision.

Memphis, TN On August 20, the Sixth Circuit refused to force participants in two related 401k plans, the "DRiV Plan" and the "Tenneco Plan,” to arbitrate claims that the plans wasted workers’ retirement money by offering sub-par investment choices. At first blush, Parker v. Tenneco, Inc., looks like one of many cookie-cutter ERISA lawsuits that allege sloppy financial management and the price that working folks pay.

Houston, TX On March 28, Judge George C. Hanks of the Southern District of Texas held that more than 7,000 North Slope Alaskan pipeline retirees who had participated in the BP America Retirement Plan (BP plan) were entitled to equitable relief under Section 502(a)(3) of ERISA. Guenther v. BP Retirement Accumulation Plan, a long-running ERISA lawsuit, alleges that BP "committed fraud or similarly inequitable conduct" in how it announced a pension formula change more than 30 years ago.

New Orleans, LA On July 9, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard a new challenge to a Department of Labor rule, which permits ERISA plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in their plan investment decisions.

San Diego, CA – On May 24, the Southern District of California denied Qualcomm Inc.’s motion to dismiss a class action 401k lawsuit brought by participants in the Qualcomm Incorporated Employee Savings and Retirement Plan. Perez-Cruet v. Qualcomm, Inc. alleges that Qualcomm violated the fiduciary duty and anti-inurement provisions of ERISA by using the forfeited money to reduce future employer matching contributions instead of eliminating the expenses that were charged to participant accounts.