An ERISA class action suit recently filed in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona maintains the plan administrator breached its fiduciary duties by allowing participants to be charged unreasonable recordkeeping fees for years. Hagins et al v. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Inc., 2022 CV 01835-MTM, October 26, 2022. The case demonstrates how
Fidelity’s Bitcoin Policy Questioned Directly By Senators
On July 26, Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Elizabeth Warren, and Tina Smith sent a letter to Fidelity Investments CEO, Abigail Johnson, asking why Fidelity would allow plan sponsors to offer Bitcoin as an investment for plan participants. The Senators said, “it seems ill-advised for one of the leading names in the world of finance to
Crypto Provider Fights Back Against DOL Warning Guidance
On June 2, ForUsAll Inc. filed suit against the United States Department of Labor (DOL) in federal district court in D. C., over its latest soft guidance issued in March on the use of cryptocurrency investments (Crypto) in plans. Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-01) Last June, ForUsAll Inc. became one of the first providers to
Why Would Anyone Invest In Crypto Through A Retirement Plan?
I’ll admit I don’t completely understand Cryptocurrencies or “Crypto” for short. And without wanting to sound immodest, I’m not unintelligent or inexperienced in the world of investments or employee benefits, business, or the law. Therefore, I will not try to explain it or how it works in this brief blog articles, there are plenty of
Ninth Circuit Applies Hughes v. Northwestern Supreme Court Standard In Overturning 2 Motion To Dismiss Cases-Or Did They?
In what appears to be the first Appellate Court decisions on what plaintiffs need to allege to defeat a motion to dismiss for failing to state a cause of action in an excessive fees case since the Supreme Court decided Hughes v. Nothwestern, (See Justices Make Short Work of Northwestern University’s Fiduciary Defense) the
Justices Make Short Work Of Northwestern University’s Fiduciary Defense
On January 24, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the dismissal of a suit brought by retirement plan participants against Northwestern University for breach of the
Biden Administration’s DOL Proposes Changes to Trump Administrations ESG Rules
In March of this year I wrote two blog articles on how the new Biden administration would not enforce and was likely going to change the Trump administration’s Department of Labor final rule on environmental, social, and govenrnance (ESG) investing in ERISA plans that became effective January 12, 2021. See “New President, New Hope
DOL Won’t Enforce Trump Administration’s New ESG Rules
I just published, on March 1, my article “New President, New Hope, New ESG Policy. . . Maybe.” discussing how the Biden administration would be reviewing the Department of Labor regulations finalized on November 13, 2020 (under the Trump administration) and effective January 12, 2021, regarding the investment duties of fiduciaries under ERISA
New President, New Hope, New ESG Policy. . . Maybe.
A lot has happened in 2021 already. The election of Joe Biden as President was certified by the Senate after an unprecedented attack on the Capitol on January 6. The House of Representatives impeached former President Donald Trump one week later. Biden was inaugurated on January 20 at a heavily secured ceremony.
The inauguration was
SCOTUS: No Damage, No Standing For DB Participants
When is a fiduciary breach not a fiduciary breach? When the complaining retiree-participants do not have standing because they have not missed receiving a defined benefit pension plan payment, according to Justice Kavanaugh writing for the majority opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in James J. Thole et al. v. U.S. Bank NA et al.,