ERISA Class Action Watch

Fresh ERISA class actions for your enjoyment:\n
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Gipson et al v. Wells Fargo Complaint – Wells Fargo is the latest financial corporation accused of self-dealing in selecting mutual funds for its 401(k) plan.
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Gray et al v. Citigroup Complaint – Plaintiffs are piling on Citigroup using the now run-of-the-mill stock drop claims.
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Proesel v. Colgate-Palmolive Complaint – poker on line gratisparty poker downloadpoker […]

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Rosen Preminger & Bloom has brought a suit against Citigroup in the SDNY. The complaint alleges that self-dealing by Citigroup caused Citigroup 401(k) Plan participants to pay excessive fees and suffer inferior returns: Leber v. Citigroup Complaint 
Macy’s has been hit with a company stock drop suit in Ohio: Shanehchian v. Macy’s Complaint

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For those of you who want an update on the 401(k) fee actions filed by Schlichter, I have some small updates.
Here are two answers from defendants:

Taylor v. United Technologies answer (D. Conn.)
Abbott v. Lockheed answer (S.D. Ill.)

Don’t expect much progress in the cases in the Southern District of Illinois. Class certification of the cases in that district has […]

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An Iowa plaintiffs’ firm has filed suit in the S.D. Iowa against Principal Financial Group on behalf of participants in 401(k) plans to which Principal provided bundled services. The purported class action alleges that a Principal subsidiary advises participants in retirement plans serviced by Principal that they should rollover their retirement assets to a Principal IRA […]

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The Southern District of Illinois has declined to dismiss a complaint that alleges that Lockheed’s 401(k) plan permitted participants to pay excessive and unreasonable fees. In a very short opinion, Judge Michael Reagan held that while “The Court agrees that Plaintiffs’ pleading is not necessarily a model of legal draftsmanship … it adequately performs its […]

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The District Court of Connecticut declined to dismiss the class action against United Technologies’ 401(k) plan on the pleadings. Judge Warren Eginton held that plaintiffs had stated a claim alleging that defendants breached their fiduciary duties by permitting the plan to charge unreasonable and excessive fees. While Judge Eginton dismissed claims for failure to disclose […]

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Schlicter Bogard Denton has filed an amended complaint in their suit against ABB. This new complaint is much simplified, but also much less damning. The core allegation is now that ABB had a fiduciary duty to invest in collective trusts instead of publicly traded mutual funds because the trusts would have been cheaper. The new […]

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Retirement plan fees are a very hot topic among employers. More than a dozen class action lawsuits involving 401(k) fees have been filed in the last twelve months. These suits allege that 401(k) plan sponsors violated their fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) by allowing their plans to offer […]

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Judge Darrah has granted plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in the 401(k) fee suit against Exelon in the Northern District of Illinois. The class includes future, current, and former participants. Judge Darrah found (consistent with the recent Guidant decision) the latter category to have standing even if they have taken a full distribution.

Exelon Class Certification […]

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The Northern District of California has denied Bechtel’s motion to dismiss the fee class action against its 401(k) plan. Defendants had argued that (1) the complaint failed to allege any violation of applicable statutes or regulations regarding fee disclosure, (2) the plan complied with ERISA Section 404(c), and (3) Bechtel was not a fiduciary.
The court […]

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