JD

A $14 million excessive fee settlement has been approved by a federal judge, though there was an objection raised by one of the members of the participant class. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle signed off on the deal presented by the parties (plaintiffs Chandra V. Brown-Davis, Yolanda Brown... READ MORE

Last week, a group representing advisors who sell annuities challenged the legality of the fiduciary rule in federal court—and now a second suit filed in a different federal court accuses the Labor Department of making law with a series of FAQs. This suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the... READ MORE

Noting that “pouring the same old wine into a new bottle does not change the result,” a new lawsuit seeks to vacate the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule as expressed in PTE 2020-02. The suit—filed by the Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice Inc., joined by several advisors and advisory... READ MORE

The ink was barely dry on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in an excessive fee case—and a federal judge who “…been awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision in Hughes v. Northwestern University,” has applied its ruling in refusing to dismiss another, similar suit. The participant-plaintiffs[1] here (... READ MORE

The addition of an arbitration clause has—for the moment, anyway—paused an excessive fee suit. But what’s interesting is how the court applied the terms of that clause.  The suit had been brought by plaintiffs Lawanda Holmes, Ani M. Miller and Brittany E. Roxbury (“by and through their attorneys... READ MORE

A new paper rehashes (and embraces) some old beliefs, blatantly ignores the full impact of workplace savings, disregards the reality that deferrals are temporary—and kills a lot of trees in the process.   The diatribe’s author, perhaps because he’s affiliated with a law school, perhaps because the... READ MORE

Which is more powerful—a generous match, or a high savings rate default?  As it turns out, Christmas Eve brought us a new white paper with the fairly innocuous title, “The Impact of Employer Defaults and Match Rates on Retirement Saving.” Indeed, there have been plenty of surveys (and tons of data... READ MORE

Another proprietary fund suit has been filed, with participants in its own plan alleging “self-dealing at the expense of its own workers’ retirement savings.” In the most recent case David Ravarino, William Kenan Kelly, Holly A. Smith, Jeana Rose Bollinger, Johanna Langille, Laura Shur, Lisa Bishop... READ MORE

“You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout…” Those are, of course, the opening lyrics to that holiday classic, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” And while the tune is jaunty enough, the message—that there’s some kind of elfin “eye in the sky” keeping tabs on us has always struck... READ MORE