A New York district court judge earlier this month disqualified a firm representing hundreds of 401(k) plan participants based on a conflict of interest.  The judge called the risks posed “endless,” and requested additional briefing on whether the firm would be allowed to remain as counsel in related arbitration proceedings in Missouri.  The ruling spotlights…

Retirement plans may have thousands of participants and billions of dollars in plan assets. Unfortunately, these large sums of money are attractive to bad actors who look to prey on unknowing victims by fraudulently accessing funds. Plan administrators, as fiduciaries of retirement plans, are wise to understand their legal obligations and best practices related to…

The Seventh Circuit has issued its decision in the much-anticipated case of Divane v. Northwestern.  The district court below had refused to allow plaintiffs to proceed with breach of fiduciary duty and prohibited transaction claims based on the recordkeeper’s use of participant data for purposes of “cross-marketing” non-plan services to plan participants.  The issue…

In a prior post, we commented on the growing trend of fiduciaries making non-monetary concessions to settle ERISA fee litigation cases. We observed that certain “onerus” non-monetary settlement features – such as obligating fiduciaries to provide plaintiffs’ counsel with customized reports on plan operations and performance during a years-long “monitoring” period — are significant…

As the bellwether cases in the ERISA actuarial assumptions litigation approach the end of the motion to dismiss stage, this is a good time to step back and assess how they are proceeding.

Test cases of this sort tend to unfold in phases.

• In the first phase, plaintiffs file a series of test cases, floating

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Many Americans use prescription drugs on a daily basis to control or prevent a wide variety of illnesses. However, the increasing costs of prescription drugs make it hard for many Americans to obtain the medications they require. One way to combat this is through the use of manufacturer coupons. The process is simple. A manufacturer…

There always seem to be enough open important questions to keep ERISA practitioners operating in some uncertainty. When new legislation or regulatory guidance is not forthcoming, ERISA practitioners only have the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts to look to for assistance. Although the Supreme Court usually takes either zero or one ERISA cases…