Key Takeaway: The Sixth Circuit largely affirmed the grant of a motion to dismiss, but reversed the district court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claim that the defendants had failed to select the lowest-cost share class of...more
On March 10, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a Compliance Assistance Release (the “Release”) addressing its views on the availability of cryptocurrencies on 401(k) investment platforms. This guidance comes...more
5/13/2022
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Digital Assets ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Plan Participants ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities ,
Securities Regulation
Welcome to Goodwin’s ERISA Litigation Update. Litigation involving ERISA-governed benefits plans has exploded in recent years. Lawyers in our award-winning ERISA Litigation practice have extensive experience litigating these...more
4/7/2022
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Dismissal With Prejudice ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
ERISA Litigation ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hughes v. Northwestern University ,
Investment Management ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
Summary Judgment
Welcome to Goodwin’s ERISA Litigation Update. Litigation involving ERISA-governed benefits plans has exploded in recent years. Lawyers in our award-winning ERISA Litigation practice have extensive experience litigating these...more
12/17/2021
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
ERISA Litigation ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Management ,
Investment Products ,
Investors ,
Oral Argument ,
Pleading Standards ,
Retirement Plan
Welcome to Goodwin’s ERISA Litigation Update. Litigation involving ERISA-governed benefits plans has exploded in recent years. Lawyers in our award-winning ERISA Litigation practice have extensive experience litigating these...more
10/14/2021
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Administrative Expenses ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
ERISA Litigation ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investors ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Plan Participants ,
Pleading Standards ,
Retirement Plan ,
Standing ,
Summary Judgment ,
Vacated
Welcome to Goodwin’s ERISA Litigation Update. Litigation involving ERISA-governed benefits plans has exploded in recent years. Lawyers in our award-winning ERISA Litigation practice have extensive experience litigating these...more
7/30/2021
/ 401k ,
Administrative Expenses ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Certiorari ,
Class Certification ,
Co-payments ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Forum Selection ,
Health Plan Sponsors ,
Investors ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pensions ,
Pleading Standards ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Retirement Plan ,
Thole v U.S. Bank
Welcome to Goodwin’s ERISA Litigation Update. Litigation involving ERISA-governed benefits plans has exploded in recent years. Lawyers in our award-winning ERISA Litigation practice have extensive experience litigating these...more
4/8/2021
/ 401k ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Health Plan Sponsors ,
Investors ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers
The final rule, while expanding the types of retirement investment advice covered by fiduciary protections, especially for IRAs, also provides carveouts for retirement education, order-taking by brokers and sales pitches to...more
The plaintiffs, three plan participants, filed their lawsuit in 2012 and purported to assert claims on behalf of a class of all plans serviced by the defendants, affiliated entities that provided services to the plans and/or...more
10/2/2015
/ Breach of Duty ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
FRCP 23 ,
FRCP 23(b)(3) ,
Mutual Funds ,
Prohibited Transactions
Fiduciaries of two defined contribution retirement plans sponsored by the same employer (the “Plans”) sued the Plans’ former investment manager for breach of ERISA fiduciary duties and state law violations in connection with...more
In October 2012, a defined benefit plan sponsor amended its plan to provide that, effective Dec. 7, 2012, the plan would purchase an annuity to cover the plan’s obligations to make payments to the roughly 41,000 participants...more
9/30/2015
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Breach of Duty ,
De-Risking ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pension Plan Amendments ,
Summary Plan Description ,
TRO
Factual Background -
As described in greater detail in the December 18, 2014 edition of the ELU, this case involves claims for breach of fiduciary duty when two 401(k) plans remained invested in the employer stock at a...more
In Teets v. Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, Case No. 14-2330 (D. Col. May 22, 2015), the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado denied in part and granted in part a motion to dismiss claims under ERISA...more
On June 25, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to grant certiorari in Tatum v. RJR Pension Investment Committee, 761 F.3d 346 (4th Cir. 2014). As discussed in the September 29, 2014 edition of the ELU, Tatum...more
In a highly anticipated decision concerning 401(k) excessive fee litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in Tibble v. Edison, Int’l, No. 13-550, vacating the lower court’s decision that had found...more
Nationwide Life Insurance Co. has agreed to settle ERISA fiduciary breach claims brought on behalf of a class of retirement plan trustees that purchased annuity contracts and/or services from Nationwide for their plans....more
The First Circuit recently decided two ERISA cases challenging the use of retained asset accounts in favor of the insurer-defendants. The decisions are Merrimon v. Unum Life Ins. Co. of Am., 758 F.3d 46, 50 (1st Cir. 2014)...more
Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, the central issue in nearly every case alleging the imprudent investment of plan assets in employer stock has revolved around whether plan...more
A Seventh Circuit panel declined to apply ERISA’s three-year statute of limitations to bar fiduciary claims in a case arising out of a buy-out transaction involving an employee stock ownership plan. The court held that the...more
The Sixth Circuit held in Hi-Lex Controls, Inc. v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan that a service provider was liable as a fiduciary under ERISA for unauthorized fees it assessed against a self-funded health plan. In...more
In a decision that could have significant implications for certain companies and their 401(k) and other plans that invest in employer stock, the Supreme Court ruled, in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, that there is no...more
The Fifth Circuit ruled last month that a plan investment advisor could not be held liable under ERISA for plan losses as a result of an investment, where the advisor did not act as a fiduciary with respect to that...more
Federal district courts in Missouri and Vermont have come to opposite conclusions regarding a right to jury trial with respect to fiduciary breach claims brought under ERISA section 502(a)(2). Applying the Supreme Court’s...more
In its continuing analysis of when a class may be certified in a case alleging breach of fiduciary duties with respect to a defined contribution plan, the Seventh Circuit, in Abbott v. Lockheed Martin Corporation, reversed...more
In one of many cases challenging the use of retained asset accounts in group insurance benefit plans, the Third Circuit, in Edmonson v. Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, affirmed summary judgment for the defendant...more