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Fiduciary Duty Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ERISA Litigation

Williams Mullen

[Hybrid Event] 2024 Benefits Forum: Celebrating 50 Years of ERISA - September 12th, Richmond, VA

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Join us as we commemorate ERISA’s 50th anniversary and review the past, present and future of this pivotal legislation. This hybrid event offers two options for attendance: in-person or webinar. Both options will have an...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

District Court Dismisses Challenge to Use of Plan Forfeitures

A federal district court recently granted a motion to dismiss claims that defined contribution plan fiduciaries breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty and prudence, and violated ERISA’s anti-inurement and prohibited...more

Verrill

Novel 401(k) Plan Lawsuits Over the Use of Forfeitures—Swinging for the Fences or Plausible Claims?

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In our December 7, 2023 post, we noted five class action lawsuits, all filed by the same law firm within two months, in which 401(k) plan participants allege plan fiduciaries violated ERISA by using plan forfeitures to offset...more

Stinson - Benefits Notes Blog

DOL Settlements Remind Employers to Avoid Collecting Premiums Until Evidence of Insurability is Approved

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced two settlements with major insurance companies this month that highlight the importance of employers avoiding the collection of group life insurance premiums from employees until...more

Saul Ewing LLP

The Friday Five: Five ERISA Litigation Highlights - June 2024

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This month’s Friday Five explores recent decisions with issues spanning physician power of attorney to preexisting exclusions and the fiduciary duty of an insurance company....more

Verrill

Health and Welfare Benefit Plan Fiduciary Governance in the Wake of the Johnson & Johnson Lawsuit

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For the past few years, we have encouraged plan sponsors to focus on matters of fiduciary governance for their health and welfare benefit plans (see our 2021 blog post). Yet many plan sponsors overlook the fact that the...more

Mayer Brown

Decision Alert: Northern District of Texas Expands Fiduciary Liability To Cover Non-ESG Fund Managers’ ESG-Related Conduct

Mayer Brown on

Case Name and Number: Spence v. American Airlines, Inc., et al., No. 4:23-cv-00552 - Introduction - On February 21, 2024, Judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas (the “Court”) denied a motion to dismiss an...more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Benefits Monthly Minute - December 2023

Happy Holidays! The December Monthly Minute includes a fiduciary checkup reminder and a look at HHS’ recent settlement stemming from a phishing attack that impacted ePHI of nearly 35,000 individuals....more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

District Court Finds Arbitration and Class Action Waiver Provision Enforceable in Retirement Plan

The Eastern District of Kentucky recently became the latest court to weigh in on arbitration and class action waiver provisions in ERISA-governed defined contribution plans. In Merrow v. Horizon Bank, the court found such a...more

Bricker Graydon LLP

Forfeitures Account - The Next New Topic of ERISA Litigation Trends & Should You Be Concerned?

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A handful of new ERISA litigation cases (including McManus v. Clorox Co., N.D Cal. No. 4:23-cv-05325) are taking aim at forfeiture accounts and trying to pull them into the never-ending list of ways in which retirement plan...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

The Fourth Circuit Affirms No Breach of ERISA’s Fiduciary Duties for “Cross-Selling” Efforts

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Like the tides, the rules regarding ERISA’s fiduciary duties are constantly in flux. The Fourth Circuit recently ruled that while providing “investment advice for a fee” implicates those duties, pitching investment services...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

ERISA Excessive Fee Cases Continue to Survive Dismissal Motions at a High Rate

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Recently, federal appellate courts have begun tightening the pleading standards for ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claims based on the fees or performance of funds in 401(k) and 403(b) plans. To state a viable claim based on...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Federal Judge Nixes Interlocutory Appeal to Clarify Pleading Standards for ERISA Excessive Fee Claims

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

On July 20, 2023, a federal judge in Massachusetts rejected defendants’ request to certify an interlocutory appeal to the First Circuit to clarify the proper pleading standard for ERISA breach-of-duty claims. See Monteiro v....more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Kraft Heinz Sues Aetna, Raising Novel ERISA Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawsuit

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

On June 30, 2023, Kraft Heinz raised a novel ERISA breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit against Aetna, the former third-party administrator for its own group health plan. The case alleges that Aetna improperly managed Kraft’s...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Excessive Recordkeeping Fee Claim Squeaks by a Motion to Dismiss

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

A federal court in Wisconsin recently allowed a putative ERISA class action in Lucero v. Credit Union Ret. Plan Ass’n to proceed to discovery on the claim that a 401(k) plan paid excessive recordkeeping fees. This decision...more

Goodwin

Second Circuit Vacates Certification of Nationwide Class in ERISA Lawsuit

Goodwin on

On December 1, 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a district court’s certification of a nationwide class of 8,000+ retirement plans serving hundreds of thousands of participants in an ERISA action...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Magistrate Recommends 180° Course Correction on Previously Denied Motions to Dismiss In ERISA Fee Litigation Cases

In a pair of report and recommendations issued the same day, a Magistrate Judge in Wisconsin recently recommended that the district court (i) grant motions for reconsideration of prior denials of motions to dismiss claims...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Eighth Circuit Joins Growing Number of Courts Rejecting Common ERISA Fee and Investment Claims

In Matousek v. MidAmerican Energy Co., 2022 WL 6880771, __ F.4th __ (8th Cir. 2022), the Eighth Circuit joined the Sixth and Seventh Circuits in affirming dismissal of ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claims alleging that the...more

Goodwin

ERISA Litigation Update - October 2022

Goodwin on

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

Fox Rothschild LLP

In ERISA Excessive Fee Cases, the Pendulum May Be Swinging Back In Favor of Plan Sponsors

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A new decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in a so-called “excessive fee” case is good news for plan sponsors, particularly following the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year in Hughes v....more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

ERISA Litigation Roundup: Dammed if You Do, Damned if You Don’t

A string of ERISA lawsuits has emerged in recent weeks against companies who offer BlackRock Target-Date Funds (“TDFs”) as 401k investment options to their employees. The lawsuits allege the companies, in their capacities as...more

Williams Mullen

[Event] Benefits Forum 2022: Retirement Plans - Risks, Rewards & What's Ahead - September 22nd, Richmond, VA

Williams Mullen on

This hybrid event offers two options for attendance: in-person or webinar. Both options will have an interactive experience and SHRM credit, so choose the method that works best for you. Topics include: > SECURE Act...more

McDermott Will & Emery

ERISA Litigation: What Have We Learned?

McDermott Will & Emery on

Earlier this spring, McDermott Partner Erin Turley delivered a presentation about the impacts of recent Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) litigation. Lawsuits now target both large and small employee...more

Robinson+Cole ERISA Claim Defense Blog

Sixth Circuit Rejects Arbitration Of Certain ERISA § 502(a)(2) Claims, Ruling That Employee Consent To Arbitration May Not Bind...

In Hawkins v. Cintas Corp., No. 21-3156, __ F.4th __, 2022 WL 1236954 (6th Cir. Apr. 27, 2022), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that an arbitration clause contained in certain individual employment...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

ERISA Litigation Roundup: Ninth Circuit Partially Reverses Dismissal of Two Proposed Class Actions

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit partially reversed the dismissal of two proposed class actions alleging mismanagement of separate 401(k) plans in violation of ERISA. In Davis v. Salesforce.com, Inc., 2022 WL...more

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