Non-ERISA 457 Deferred Compensation Plan

[jondoejag2]

Does anyone on here have any clue where I can find an attorney who can practice in Tennessee who specializes in Fiduciary Responsibility breaches in Non- ERISA 457 Deferred Compensation Plans? I have seen people and attorneys all over the internet on many websites giving advice about this and how certain things are able to be fought in court. HOWEVER, I have been contacting attorney after attorney for the last 2-3 years (at least 50), even the one's giving that advice, and either can't get them to talk to me, they won't return my calls, or they take all of my case information and then I never hear back from them. I have been charged by the state bar association for lawyer referrals only to have those referrals tell me they don't handle those types of cases and don't know why I was referred to them. How can violations of fiduciary responsibility be illegal if no attorney will even take a case involving them? I have talked to attorneys who have referred me to their friends and their friends respond that they don't handle those types of cases. I have been referred to securities attorneys, employment attorneys, retirement plan attorneys, ERISA attorneys- and NONE of them will contact me back. If anyone has any idea of an actual attorney who handles these types of cases, I would really appreciate the contact information. I am tired of talking to attorneys and telling them my story, only to be ignored. Thank you in advance for any assistance. 

[rr_sphr]

If you are a plaintiff trying to go after an employer, it might just be after hearing the details/case information that none of the attorneys think that you have any type of case to pursue, such that it isn't worth their time.  And therefore they ignore you or don't call back. Often advice is given on another legal board that I am on that if you can't find an attorney to take the case it's because it's not winnable...

Do you might posting the overall details on how you think they breached their fiduciary duty?  Just to see if anyone out here can tell you whether your details would be viable?  

[jondoejag2]

Not knowing anything about investing, when they came around 23 years ago and pitched the ICMA-RC tax exempt self funded NON-ERISA 457plan, we were led to believe the plans were managed and if we followed their investment plans and increased our donations, by the time we retired,  we would have sizeable nest eggs. It seemed like a no brainer. After 23 years and investing over $96,000 of my own money, the plan is now worth $150,000, or if I was able to take it all out pay taxes on it, I would have just a little more than I put into the plan.  It turned out that we were paying 59 basis points, or management fees that ICMA-RC is calling maintenance fees, along with exceptionally high fund fees (an example is the ICMA-RC 2040 fund with index fees of .141% vs Amerifunds 2040 fund with index fees of .038% all of the index fees for the funds available to us through ICMA-RC are charging that kind of excessive fee). I noticed about 3 years ago the plans weren't doing what we were told they would. When I questioned the ICMA-RC plan maintenance advisor, who we all thought was the ICMA-RC plan manager, he told me that he didn't understand what I was upset about since I had more in the plan than I had put into it. I told him that I wouldn't when I pulled it out and paid the taxes on it, not to mention the "rule of 72 " (investments should double every 72 months) where the plan has only made half of what I put into it over 23 years. I talked to our city's administration and was told it was all a crap shoot and that I had mismanaged the plan. The city failed to properly explain the plan to us, they failed to make sure we were not being overcharged on fees, they failed to make sure underperforming funds were removed from the funds available to us for investing, and they failed to have an investment line up for those of us who were investing in the plan but knew nothing of how to actually invest ourselves. One year the national rate of return was 14%. My account made -3% that year. I went to an advisor from an investment company and had him check my account. He then talked to the city on my behalf and explained their fiduciary liability. They knew nothing about what their duties were and immediately switched to a new plan with a different company. They are currently in the process of making that switch happen but they do not plan on doing anything to make up the losses to the rest of us that followed the investment plan and did not reap any of the rewards. For a lot of people, $96,000 over that period is not a lot of money. When you make what I make, it sure is. I, however, still can't find an attorney who will handle this case even though most of the attorneys say there is a case but that they won't be able to handle it. If there is not a case here, then everyone might as well quit talking about fiduciary responsibility, because it doesn't exist, and they can lie to you at will and lose all of your money with no repercussions..