A participant in a plan with 27 participants is seeking the return of the “excessive and unreasonable asset-based fees charged by Nationwide for recordkeeping and administrative services, and to... Read More
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Litigation
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 6/28/2017
Just when you think all the 401(k) plans with proprietary funds have been sued – another lawsuit emerges.The latest (Schapker v. Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc., D. Kan., No. 2:17-cv-02365,... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 6/27/2017
What’s worse than being slapped with an excessive fee lawsuit by your own participants? Being slapped with a second excessive fee suit by another participant, of course.That’s what just happened to... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 6/22/2017
A participant suit that had alleged that a recordkeeper’s advice arrangement with Financial Engines constituted a breach of fiduciary duty has been dismissed.Plaintiff Lisa Patrico, a participant in... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 6/21/2017
A federal judge has ruled that while their “review of the Plan lineup was no paragon of diligence,” a group of participant-plaintiffs “…failed to point to specific circumstances in which the... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 6/15/2017
Another investment manager has been sued by participants of its own 401(k) plan for what they said were “conflicted, disloyal, imprudent, and self-interested decisions.”This suit, brought by D’Ann... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 6/14/2017
An excessive fee lawsuit that harkens back to the first wave of litigation more than a decade ago has finally been settled.The settlement (Waldbuesser v. Northrop Grumman Corp., C.D. Cal., No. 2:06-... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 6/13/2017
Another institution of higher learning – this one having been selected by the Commission on Presidential Debates to host more presidential and vice-presidential debates than any other institution in... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 6/12/2017
Having lost its attempt to dismiss the charges, the broker-dealer has struck a settlement.The settlement in Fernandez v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. (S.D. Fla., No. 1:15-cv-22782-... Read More
BY John Iekel | 6/6/2017
There’s strength in numbers, and there are no greater numbers than 8-0 when it comes to the U.S. Supreme Court. That's how the Court ruled in a decision it handed down June 5 that says that... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 6/5/2017
Plaintiffs have fallen short in their second attempt to convince a federal judge of the merits of their case in an excessive fee class action suit.The original lawsuit, filed in February 2016 by St.... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 5/31/2017
A lawsuit that had charged plan fiduciaries with engaging in a “practice of self-dealing and imprudent investing of Plan assets by funneling billions of dollars” into a series of proprietary target-... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 5/30/2017
A participant has filed suit claiming that a stable value fund provider “improperly exercised its discretionary authority to maximize its own compensation and retain large profits rather than... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 5/26/2017
A plan beneficiary whose “claim had no merit” has been ordered to pick up some of the legal fees incurred defending against the suit – and the case provides an interesting perspective on the costs of... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 5/25/2017
Another day, another university retirement plan charged with imprudently permitting excessive fees to be charged to participants who were also subjected to imprudent investment options. This is not a... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 5/23/2017
Another university has been sued by plan participants for excessive fees and failing to fulfill its obligations as a fiduciary under ERISA.The most recent case, Daugherty v. The University of Chicago... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 5/17/2017
A lawsuit accusing Principal Life Insurance Co. of taking excessive profits from the guaranteed investment products it sells to 401(k)s has been certified as a class action.The suit (Rozo v.... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 5/15/2017
The second of the university excessive fee cases has gotten a hearing on motions to dismiss – and it’s a definite case of win some, lose some.This suit involved Duke University, which had been... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 5/12/2017
In addition to the cash component, TIAA has agreed to make a number of changes in plan design and administration.The CasePlaintiffs in this case had alleged that TIAA breached its fiduciary duty to... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 5/12/2017
There’s apparently no such thing as too many funds in a plan, at least according to a judge in the first of the university excess fee lawsuits to get a hearing.This one (Henderson v. Emory Univ., N.D... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 5/4/2017
Arguments by a plan's fiduciaries that a plaintiff’s claims were time-barred under ERISA’s statute of limitations (mostly) fell short.The suit, Creamer v. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 5/2/2017
It’s not unusual to find a plan fiduciary sued for keeping stock in a plan after it has dropped in value. What’s less common is the situation where a plan fiduciary is sued for too quickly discarding... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 5/2/2017
One of the most important – and, in my experience, least understood – aspects of plan administration is the requirement that those who handle plan funds and other property be covered by a fidelity... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 4/25/2017
An investment advisor has successfully managed to disentangle itself from a class-action excess fee litigation suit.In Bowers v. BB&T Corp. (M.D.N.C., No. 1:15-cv-00732, 4/18/17), Cardinal... Read More
BY Nevin E. Adams, JD | 4/21/2017
A federal court has rejected an argument that it was imprudent to use mutual funds rather than collective trust funds or separate accounts in a 401(k) plan.For the very most part, defendant American... Read More
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