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Portal Conductor, Columnist: Nevin E. Adams, JD
Nevin is the former Chief Content Officer and Head of Retirement Research for the American Retirement Association. One of the retirement industry’s most prolific writers, these days he’s “retired,” which means he writes less, but continues to keep his eye on developments in, and threats to, the nation’s private retirement system.
In addition to helping guide the agenda development for the NAPA 401(k) Summit, he’s also the “Nevin” in the Nevin & Fred podcast (along with renowned ERISA attorney Fred Reish), offering irreverent, but relevant perspectives on the critical issues confronting plan sponsors, advisors, and retirement industry professionals.
Article Index
By Nevin E. Adams, JD 12/6/2023
The fiduciary defendants of a $4.3 billion 401(k) plan have prevailed in their revised motion to dismiss a fiduciary breach suit involving the selection and retention of a suite of target date funds.
The Cleveland, OH-based Parker Hannifin 401(k) plan fiduciaries were accused by a handful of...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 12/5/2023
Over the years, so-called personal finance experts have provided valuable information—but also a smattering of misinformation—but I can think of none quite as egregious as some remarks recently made by Dave Ramsey.
By now I’m sure you’ve heard—or heard about—his “counsel” with regard to acceptable...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 12/4/2023
Yet another multi-billion dollar 401(k) plan finds itself in the cross-hairs of the plaintiffs’ bar.
The suit—brought by participant-plaintiffs Randall W. Ruebel, Mario Hudson, and Tammy L. Johnson (all of whom are said to still be participants in the $3.2 billion Tyson Foods 401(k) plan), who are...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 12/1/2023
Well, here we are again at the end of yet another workweek …and the beginning of another month…and yet, there’s (still) no shortage of…well, just look at what happened to these guys and gals…
In Georgia, Shelley Betz lost her Roomba… could not find it anywhere…looked under all the furniture… only...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/29/2023
The parties in an excessive fee suit have come to terms—on at least one aspect of the litigation, though the bulk remains to be appealed.
The suit in question involves Genentech’s $7.6 billion (33,693 participant) 401(k) plan. The plaintiff is one Matthew Wehner (represented by Shepherd, Finkelman...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/28/2023
Like many of you, I have spent a fair amount of time over the past couple of weeks reading and analyzing the impact and import of the new fiduciary rule proposal—not to mention the legal pundits who seek to tell us what they think it means, or might mean, regardless of what the proposal actually...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/22/2023
Well, here we are again at the end of yet another workweek …and yet, there’s (still) no shortage of…well, just look at what happened to these guys and gals…
Don't blame the turkey, here's what is really behind your Thanksgiving food coma…
In Long Grove, Illinois, town officials have already...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/22/2023
The parties in a suit that claimed a $7.3 billion plan “stocked the Plan’s investment menu with their own proprietary index funds”—while “participants got the short end of the stick” have come to terms with a significant recovery for the settlement class compared to the claims that were alleged....
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/21/2023
Thanksgiving has been called a “uniquely American” holiday—and so, even in a year in which there has been what seems to be an unprecedented amount of disruption, frustration, stress, discomfort and loss—there remains so much for which to be thankful. And as we approach the holiday season, it seems...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/20/2023
A recent appellate court ruling that upheld a district court’s rejection of expert witness testimony has been raised as a defense in an excessive fee suit.
The suit in question involved the fiduciaries of the $5.2 billion L3Harris Retirement Savings Plan—a suit that in March 2022 claimed the...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/17/2023
Well, here we are again at the end of yet another workweek…and yet, there’s (still) no shortage of…well, just look at what happened to these guys and gals…
Somewhere near Boston, Massachusetts, an Air Atlanta Icelandic flight flying from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Liege Airport in...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/15/2023
Another university 403(b) plan has won yet another victory in staving off an excessive fee suit by the Schlichter law firm.
The most recent case[i] involved Cornell University, which had already successfully fended off most of the claims in 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/14/2023
A week or so ago, I came across an announcement that IBM was making changes to its 401(k). More specifically that, effective next year they were going to replace their matching contribution in their 401(k) with an employer contribution to a cash balance plan.[i] In the days that followed, the news...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/14/2023
As a number of similar suits have failed to gain traction in federal court, the participant-plaintiff in one of those suits has dropped his suit.
The notice of voluntary dismissal (Anderson v. Advance Publications Inc. et al., case number 1:22-cv-06826, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/13/2023
The telecommunications giant’s motion to have a controversial appellate court decision reconsidered by the full court has been rejected.
In petitioning for a rehearing of the appellate court’s decision back in September (Bugielski v. AT&T Servs., Inc., 9th Cir., No. 21-56196, rehearing...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/10/2023
Well, here we are again at the end of yet another workweek …and yet, there’s (still) no shortage of…well, just look at what happened to these guys and gals…
In Mays Landing, New Jersey, Jay Vaughan managed to catch on camera an unusual, if momentary, “passenger” into the back of his 2007 Chevy...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/10/2023
A plan sponsor and plan committee have filed suit, alleging that an advisory firm swindled $1.5 million from a 401(k) plan.
In this case those plan fiduciaries—United Airlines, Inc., United Airlines Retirement Plans Administrative Committee, and the United Airlines Pilot Retirement Account Plan as...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/7/2023
Daylight saving time doesn’t really live up to its name—but as you’re resetting clocks, anxiously awaiting the realignment of circadian rhythms and changing smoke detector batteries, it might be a good time to (re)consider the following.
Do you have fiduciary liability insurance?
I’m NOT talking...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/7/2023
Another multi-billion-dollar 401(k) plan finds itself in the crosshairs of an excessive fee suit.
This time it was participant-plaintiffs Shauna Winkelman, Michael Lenon, Scott Cenna, Kalea Nixon, Robert Goldorazena, Chad Diehl and Ross Nanfeldt, by and through their attorneys (Capozzi Adler PC[i...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/6/2023
A federal appellate court has determined that a lower court “abused its discretion” in assessing a $1.5 million sanction against the Schlichter Bogard law firm.
The Suit
The suit—which was dismissed in August 2020—was actually two suits, brought by participants (Obeslo, Hall and Gorrell-Deyerle)...
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