ERISA Insights

Managed Accounts in 401(k) Plans: Their Value and Their Dangers

A “managed account” is a discretionary portfolio management service that makes investment decisions for individual participants within the confines of a 401(k) plan and its fund options. This service is fundamentally computerized advice (aka “robo” advice), but with the help of a personal representative. Managed...

Actuarial Equivalence Fight Goes to the First Circuit

Yet another battle in the actuarial equivalence fight has just been resolved—and is immediately headed for appellate review. In Belknap v. Partners Healthcare System, Inc., the Plaintiff argued that the annuity payment he received from his plan was not the “actuarial equivalent” of the single...

Sanctions Hit U.S. Pension Plans

Early reports suggested that a pension fund for Kentucky teachers lost approximately $13 million invested in Sberbank, one of Russia’s largest banks. The pension plan quickly refuted these stories, reporting that the plan sold its interests on Feb. 23, the day before Russia invaded Ukraine...

Defendants Score Two Victories in 401(k) Fee Cases

Fiduciaries are not guarantors of an investment’s success.  Rather, all they are asked to do is be diligent, prudent, and loyal in managing an investment’s success—the ultimate success or failure of the investment does not determine whether a fiduciary has properly complied with their duties. ...

Cross-Plan Offset Claims Dismissed Against UnitedHealth for Lack of Constitutional Standing

The United States Supreme Court’s constitutional standing decision in Thole continues to reverberate throughout ERISA litigation.  In Scott v. UnitedHealth Group, Inc., the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota dismissed challenges to United’s cross-plan offsetting practices because the plaintiffs, plan participants, themselves...