Who signs Settlement Release when a Plan is a Plaintiff in Fiduciary L

[Guest EMC]

When a Plan is a Plaintiff in fiduciary litigation, who would sign the Settlement Agreement and Release on behalf of the Plan when the case settles?

[Guest BenefitsLawyer]

An authorized representative of the plan sponsor, or of the administrator, depending on where the plan document places this authority.

[KJohnson]

Where in 502(a)(2) or a(3) of ERISA can a Plan bring an action for fiduciary breach?

[Kirk Maldonado]

Why not take a pragmatic approach and ask the court to direct who has to sign on behalf of the plan?

Remember that the person is signing on behalf of the plan; not on behalf of the participants.

I seem to recall that the DOL has succesfully asserted the position that the participants can still sue. That makes sense because it prevents the fiduciaries and other parties from collusively entering into a "sweetheart" settlement.

Was the DOL involved in the litigation? If not, don't you have a risk that the DOL could itself bring litigation on the same issues? If the DOL wasn't a party, it would seem that they wouldn't be foreclosed from bringing a lawsuit.

[Guest EMC]

Nope. DOL was not involved in the litigation and the plan document provides that the Trustee is authorized to act on behalf of the Plan in all legal action as well as to execute and deliver any documents required to fulfill its obligations.

The Plan was named a Plaintiff out of an abundance of caution regarding its standing to sue under ERISA. There was no challenge re: standing and now the case is settling.