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A(nother) Federal Court Backs ‘Meaningful Benchmark’ Standard in 401(k) Excessive Fee Suit

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 9/26/2023

Plaintiffs have had their appeal of a district court’s dismissal of their excessive fee suit rejected by the appellate court. Appellants Cole Matney and Paul Watts[1]—participants in the Barrick Gold 401(k) plan—filed suit against Barrick Gold of North America, Inc., Barrick Gold’s Board of... READ MORE

Plaintiffs Get Past Motion to Dismiss in BlackRock TDF Suit

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 9/22/2023

The plaintiffs in one of the dozen or so cases involving the BlackRock Lifepath target-date funds (TDFs) have made it past the motion to dismiss stage. In this case (Trauernicht et al. v. Genworth Financial Inc. et al., case number 3:22-cv-00532, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District... READ MORE

House GOP Leaders Criticize DOL Investigations for ‘Hurting American Savers’

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 9/20/2023

Noting that “prolonged investigations carried out by federal agencies, such as EBSA, create tremendous strain on retirement plan sponsors,” two key House Republicans are pushing back. In a Sept. 19 letter to Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chair of the Education... READ MORE

Does TikTok Really Hate the 401(k)?

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 9/18/2023

A recent MarketWatch article poses the intriguing question: “Why does TikTok hate the 401(k) so much?” Now, as social media platforms go, I’ve pretty much avoided TikTok. Oh, I’ve swung by it from time to time just to see what the “fuss” is, but generally speaking (and even in “retirement”), I’ve... READ MORE

Industry Groups ‘Friend’ Fiduciaries in Excessive Fee Suit Fray

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 9/15/2023

Noting that “a decision in this appeal has the potential to significantly affect Amici’s members, which include plan sponsors and fiduciaries…,” a group of industry trade groups has filed in support of fiduciaries and providers in a federal court. More specifically, the ERISA Industry Committee (... READ MORE

A Day to Remember

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 9/11/2023

It’s hard for me to believe that we’re marking the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Harder still to comprehend that there are individuals now in the workplace who weren’t even alive on that day, and others so young that they have no memory of it. Other significant dates on the calendar have... READ MORE

Plaintiffs Land Excessive Fee Settlement with Cruise Line

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 9/8/2023

Less than a year after being sued for the standard series of alleged missteps, the parties in an excessive fee suit have struck a “deal.” The plaintiff bringing suit just a year ago was Grace Angelo (she was later joined in the action by Kerstin Thompson as a second class representative)—the... READ MORE

Another Excessive Fee Suit Settlement Struck

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 9/6/2023

The allegations are familiar, as are the attorneys representing the plaintiffs—but this settlement proposal involves more than just money. The proposed settlement comes in an action brought by plaintiffs Sarah Gamble, David Covington, Tansy Wilkerson, and Daisy Santiago (represented by Miller Shah... READ MORE

‘The True Cost of Forgotten 401(k) Accounts’

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 8/28/2023

An update of a so-called “study” has been making the rounds—again—and its authors have doubled-down (and then some) on the assumptions in an updated version. I’m referring to something called “The True Cost of Forgotten 401(k) Accounts (2023)”—an update to a report circulated about a year ago of... READ MORE

Does Your 401(k) Need ‘Guardrails?’

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 8/21/2023

A new WSJ op-ed says that 401(k)s “too often lead employees to make financially harmful mistakes.” The “problem”—at least according to the op-ed authors is that, left to their own devices participants are said to be inclined to overindulge in bad investment choices; choices they claim are the... READ MORE

Plaintiff Finds an Open Ear—and Gets a Trial Date—in Excessive Fee Suit

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 8/18/2023

Despite “uncertain” claims regarding alleged fiduciary breaches, “thin” methodology, and opinions that bordered on “conclusory,” a federal judge has denied the plan fiduciaries’ motion to dismiss—and set a trial date in an excessive fee suit. The defendants are the fiduciaries of Genentech’s $7... READ MORE

Appellate Court Takes Away AT&T Win in Excessive Fee Suit

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 8/11/2023

It’s not the first time out for these plaintiffs (Julio C. Alas, Robert J. Bugielski, and Chad S. Simecek), though it is their first win. They lost twice already at the district court level—once in September 2021 and again back in 2018. (when they had been accorded a chance to “fix” their... READ MORE

American Airlines Pushes Back on Participant’s ESG Suit

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 8/9/2023

Plan fiduciaries say that a suit brought by a participant alleging a breach of fiduciary duty by a plan that included ESG options on its menu—and funds managed by ESG-friendly managers—didn’t invest in those options and has no basis for the suit. Participant-plaintiff (and pilot) Bryan P. Spence... READ MORE

A Glidepath of/for Life

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 8/7/2023

I’ve been getting a lot of … comments … of late about my version of “retirement.” I heard it both a couple of weeks back speaking at an event sponsored by The Standard—and again last week at the NAPA DC Fly-In Forum—that I was setting a poor example for retirement aspirations (all good-natured,... READ MORE

‘Mission’ Controls

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/31/2023

So what did you want to be when you grew up? Now, I realize that some of you are still growing up—but I’ve never met ANYONE who said “I wanted to work with retirement plans”—and that includes me. Indeed, what we aspire to become in our youth is complex—and often shaped by our experience(s) at... READ MORE

Aon Beats Back Fiduciary Breach Appeal

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/27/2023

A federal appellate court has backed the ruling of a lower court, finding that a 401(k) plan’s investment consultant acted prudently, and in the interests of participants in decisions regarding a proprietary CIT. The former participant/plaintiff here (one Benjamin Reetz) claimed that the... READ MORE

Suit Says Fiduciaries of $700 Million 401(k) Fell Short

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/27/2023

A new excessive fee suit challenges the imprudent selection of share classes, the poor selection of a stable value offering AND exorbitant recordkeeping fees. Here we have one participant-plaintiff Robert Humphries suing based on the actions (or lack thereof) of the fiduciaries of the $700... READ MORE

(How) Has COVID Changed Retirement Expectations?

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/24/2023

A new study reviews data from two databases[1] to see how (if?) retirement expectations have been impacted by the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research—titled “Retirement Expectations vs. Reality: Factors that Impact Retirement Decisions” and authored by Liu, Zhikun Liu, David... READ MORE

$30 Million Settlement Set in TDF Fund Suit

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/19/2023

Just ahead of a scheduled trial date, the parties in a fiduciary breach suit involving a $30 billion master trust have come to terms. The suit—filed in February 2016 by Melina N. Jacobs—alleged that the fiduciary defendants of the Verizon Master Savings Trust violated their fiduciary duty of... READ MORE

DST Suit Settles for $124.6 Million

By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/19/2023

A “painstakingly negotiated global Settlement” of some $124 million involving multiple suits (and the involvement of the Labor Department) has been reached in a long-standing ERISA suit. The original suit was filed in March 2016 by Clive Cooper, a former employee (and participant) of DST Systems,... READ MORE

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