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Supreme Court of the United States › Fiduciary Duty

The United States Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States and is charged with interpreting federal law, including the United States Constitution. The Court's docket is largely discretionary... more +
The United States Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States and is charged with interpreting federal law, including the United States Constitution. The Court's docket is largely discretionary with only a limited number of cases granted review each term.  The Court is comprised of one chief justice and eight associate justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to hold lifetime positions. less -
Mayer Brown

US Supreme Court Grants Review in One ERISA Case, and Has Now Called for Views of the Solicitor General in Two Other ERISA Cases

Mayer Brown on

Fresh off its April 17, 2025 decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University, the US Supreme Court is setting the stage to delve back into ERISA issues next Term. On Monday, the Court granted certiorari to resolve a circuit...more

Verrill

Preparing for “Untoward Practical Results”—Implications and Action Items for ERISA Attorneys Following Cunningham v. Cornell...

Verrill on

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision Cunningham v. Cornell University, 145 S.Ct. 1020 (2025) significantly lowers the pleading standard for prohibited transaction claims under Section 406(a) of the Employee Retirement...more

Hall Benefits Law

SCOTUS Revives Cornell 403b Lawsuit: What Fiduciaries Must Know

Hall Benefits Law on

Fiduciaries must treat plan management as an active compliance obligation to avoid legal exposure, says a Hall Benefits Law practitioner. On April 17, 2025, the US Supreme Court issued a unanimous per curiam opinion in...more

Fisher Phillips

Retirement Plan Fiduciaries Must Adjust to New Era of ERISA Litigation: How a Recent SCOTUS Ruling and $39M Jury Award Changed the...

Fisher Phillips on

A Supreme Court decision in April made it easier for plaintiffs to keep ERISA prohibited transaction claims in play longer, and just days later a rare ERISA trial resulted in a huge win for a class of 401(k) plan...more

Jones Day

U.S. Supreme Court Encourages Federal Rule 7(a)(7) Replies—A Potential Boon for Defendants

Jones Day on

The U.S. Supreme Court recently reminded district courts that they may use Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7(a)(7)—a little-known rule—to screen out meritless complaints before discovery....more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Benefits Monthly Minute - May 2025

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL on

The May Monthly Minute brings you up-to-date on mental health parity enforcement relief, as well as smoker surcharge and prohibited transaction litigation. Nonenforcement of 2024 Mental Health Parity Regulations - Earlier...more

Kilpatrick

5 Key Takeaways | Plan Investments and Fiduciary Risk Mitigation in the Trump Era

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The landscape for retirement plan investments and fiduciary risks is shifting in the early part of the second Trump Administration, both due to changes in the administration’s policies and developments in the courts....more

Troutman Pepper Locke

SEC Briefs Disgorgement and Investor Harm in Navellier v. SEC

Troutman Pepper Locke on

In the recent Supreme Court case, Navellier & Associates, Inc. v. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the petitioners sought a writ of certiorari challenging the decisions of the lower courts regarding the scope of...more

Robinson Bradshaw

Lower Pleading Standard for 401(k) Plan Prohibited Transaction Suits

Robinson Bradshaw on

In its April 17 decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University, the U.S. Supreme Court established a plaintiff-friendly standard for ERISA prohibited transaction claims, resolving a circuit court split. As a result, plan...more

Carlton Fields

Considerations for Plan Sponsors in the Wake of Cunningham v. Cornell

Carlton Fields on

Excessive fee cases against plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) have been on the rise for the last decade. ERISA litigation is expanding with novel theories such as forfeiture litigation....more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Do You Really Want to Be an ERISA Fiduciary?

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on

Two recent class action lawsuits charging a breach of fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) have increased the stakes and raised important considerations regarding a plan fiduciary’s duty of...more

Polsinelli

Supreme Court Revives ERISA Litigation Dismissed in Second Circuit: Will the Supreme Court’s Adoption of a Liberal Pleading...

Polsinelli on

On Thursday, April 17, a unanimous Supreme Court held that a less demanding pleading standard is applicable when plaintiffs bring an Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) class action under ERISA Section...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Cornell case makes it easier for plan participants to sue

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C. on

For years, I observed that federal courts were growing weary of cases involving fee litigation, but then the Supreme Court changed that perspective....more

Pullman & Comley - Labor, Employment and...

Employee Benefit Plan Fiduciaries: Why Solid Fee Benchmarking Should Be On Your To-Do List

Pullman & Comley - Labor, Employment and... on

Certain transactions between employee benefit plans and “parties in interest” are prohibited under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA). ...more

Maynard Nexsen

Navigating Increased ERISA Litigation Risk Post-Cunningham: How to Protect Your Plan

Maynard Nexsen on

Under the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University, No. 23-1007 (April 17, 2025), plaintiffs asserting that ERISA plan administrators engaged in prohibited transactions under ERISA Section 406 are...more

King & Spalding

Cunningham v. Cornell University: ERISA Claims Are Now Much More Costly and Difficult to Defend

King & Spalding on

In Cunningham v. Cornell University,1 the Supreme Court unanimously held that plaintiffs who bring a prohibited transaction claim under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) are only...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

Truck on Fire … Supreme Court Relaxes ERISA Pleading Standards

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial on

by Alex Smith The Supreme Court recently issued a decision regarding the pleading standards for ERISA prohibited transactions claims in a case involving Cornell’s 403(b) plan to resolve a federal circuit court split. Under...more

Ropes & Gray LLP

Plan Sponsors Beware: The U.S. Supreme Court Just Eased Requirements to File ERISA Prohibited Transaction Suits

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Many sponsors and fiduciaries of ERISA retirement plans had been hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Cunningham v. Cornell University (No. 23-1007) would articulate new pleading standards that would slow the...more

Baker Botts L.L.P.

SCOTUS Holds ERISA Requires No Additional Pleading Requirements beyond § 1106 Elements for Prohibited-Transaction Claims,...

Baker Botts L.L.P. on

On April 17, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States clarified the pleading requirements to bring a prohibited-transaction claim under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) in Cunningham v....more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Supreme Court lowers pleading standard for ERISA prohibited transaction claims

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP on

The US Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision on April 17, 2025 that could have a lasting impact on retirement plan litigation. The decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University clarifies that when plaintiffs bring...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

Supreme Court Ruling Makes It Easier for Participants To Sue Plan Fiduciaries

Lowenstein Sandler LLP on

On April 17, the Supreme Court unanimously resolved a circuit split in Cunningham v. Cornell University, holding that plan participants need only allege that fiduciaries engaged in a “prohibited transaction” under the...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Supreme Court Clarifies ERISA Prohibited Transaction Pleading Standards

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

On April 17, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, resolved a circuit split and established a plaintiff-friendly pleading standard for ERISA prohibited transaction claims in Cunningham v. Cornell University,...more

Carlton Fields

DOL ESG Rule Withstands Demolition of Chevron Deference

Carlton Fields on

In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council Inc., leaving the doctrine of Chevron deference in rubble. The doctrine stated that, when a...more

DLA Piper

Supreme Court Opens the Door to Increased ERISA Litigation

DLA Piper on

The US Supreme Court has issued a unanimous opinion that could lead to an increase in litigation for prohibited transaction claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA)....more

Littler

The Supreme Court Relieves ERISA Plaintiffs of a Pleading Requirement: What’s Next for ERISA Plan Fiduciaries?

Littler on

On April 17, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that dealt a blow to benefit plan fiduciaries nationwide. The Court unanimously held in Cunningham v. Cornell University that a plaintiff asserting that a plan and...more

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