ERISA Insights

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...

Sixth Circuit Revives Lawsuit Against Detroit Edison Co.

ERISA Section 102 requires employers to provide accurate and comprehensive information about plan benefits to participants through a summary plan description (and its updates).  A group of participants in Detroit Edison’s defined benefit plan sued alleging that the employer failed to accurately describe the consequences...

Second Circuit Rejects Arbitration of ERISA Claims

Courts have increasingly been asked to determine whether arbitration agreements executed by employees apply to claims under ERISA.  In Cooper v. DST Systems, Inc., the Second Circuit just held that an employer’s breach of fiduciary duty claims alleging poor management of a 401(k) Plan’s assets...