Lowe’s Defense Fails to Get ERISA Suit Dismissed
The fiduciary breach lawsuit accuses plan fiduciaries of mapping $1 billion into a fund that lagged peer performance and was unpopular in the marketplace.
Compliance
Broad ERISA Lawsuit Targets Texas Grocery Chain
Plaintiffs suggest higher than average fees were not attributable to enhanced services for participants, but instead to defendants’ use of high-cost investment products and managers.
Court Finds Atrium Health’s Benefit Plans Are Governmental Plans
A U.S. District Judge in North Carolina determined the health system’s retirement and health plans were established and maintained for its employees by a political subdivision of the...
Court Dismisses Prohibited Transaction Claim in MIT Excessive Fee Suit
A federal court judge moved forward most claims, but granted summary judgment to Massachusetts Institute of Technology defendants for a claim alleging a prohibited transaction between MIT and...
Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans and Section 409A
NQDC plan sponsors must understand Section 409A rules to avoid unintended tax consequences and, possibly, participant lawsuits.
Groups Urge Supreme Court Not to Undermine Value of Plan Disclosures
They argue that retirement plan disclosures give retirement plan participants the “actual knowledge” required by ERISA, whether participants read them or not, and that an appellate court decision...
Court Decides Lawsuit Over Multiemployer Plan Withdrawal Liability Is Time-Barred
According to an appellate court, a cause of action against a plan sponsors for defaulting on its multiemployer plan withdrawal liability began when the plan trustees first accelerated...
UBS Cleared of Wrongdoing in Enron Stock Option Case
A federal court decides that, as stock options were not purchased securities, UBS did not violate sections of securities acts that required disclosures.
Court Remands Case Over OSF Healthcare’s Church Plan Status
The 7th Circuit found a district court was hasty in granting summary judgment to the health care system before all discovery was obtained to prove or disprove the...
Lawsuit Over TDFs Names Provider as Defendant
Participants in the CHS/Community Health Systems, Inc. Retirement Savings Plan have filed a lawsuit against the company, its retirement plan committee and the provider of target-date funds (TDFs)...
Closed DB Plan Nondiscrimination Relief Extended Again
The IRS anticipates that final regulations on closed DB plan nondiscrimination testing will not be published in time for plan sponsors to make plan design decisions before expiration...
Because Nonqualified Plan Is an ERISA Plan, State-Law Claims Are Preempted
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found Safelite’s NQDC plan to be covered under ERISA, so a participant’s claims for Section 409A violations should have been filed...
Transamerica Unable to Dodge ERISA Suit
A federal court judge refused to dismiss the case, finding that the new claim was not a released claim in a previous lawsuit settlement and the plaintiffs had...
Rule on Electronic Disclosures Moving Along
The OMB has received for review a proposed rule from the DOL aimed at reducing costs and improving participant understanding of retirement plan disclosures.
DOL to Host Webcast About HRAs
The Department of Labor (DOL) and the IRS will discuss the benefits of offering expanded options provided by new health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and more.
Court Says Participant Misunderstood Valuation for ESOP Purchase
A federal district court judge found that since shares for the ESOP were purchased with borrowed funds, the subsequent lower valuation of the stock was an immediate equitable...
Charles Schwab Wins Significant Pro-Arbitration ERISA Decision
The 9th Circuit has ruled that Supreme Court decisions show forced arbitration is in fact permissible in the context of Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation.
Court Orders Fiduciaries to Restore $6.5 Million to ESOP
The court found as a fiduciary to the ESOP, Evolve Bank failed to notice, question or investigate several red flags that appeared in the appraisal of the stock...
IRS Makes Language Changes to ‘One-Bad-Apple’ Rule Proposal
The IRS says that, as published, its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) contains errors which may prove to be misleading and need to be clarified.
Legislator Introduces Another Auto-IRA Bill
As with legislation introduced previously, employers without retirement plans would be required to automatically enroll employees into an IRA at a 3% default deferral rate.