ERISA Class Actions: Underperforming Investments, Excessive Fees, Forfeiture Cases, Denial of Benefits

BARBRI

This CLE webinar will review the most important trends and developments in ERISA and defined benefit plan class actions. The panel will discuss, among other things, forfeiture class actions and pending circuit cases, the aftermath of Cunningham v. Cornell, 604 U.S. ____ (2025), and Hughes v. Northwestern University, 595 U.S. 170 (2022), and the circuit split with respect to arbitration and class waivers for ERISA claims.

Description

Class actions arising under ERISA continued to surge throughout 2025. When claims allege actions that affect large swaths of plan participants, courts often are willing to defer any potential individualized inquiries to the merits or damages phases of the case. As a result, both sides invest heavily in obtaining or avoiding early dismissal through Federal Rule 12(b)(6) motions.

Most class actions allege that the plan administrators breached their fiduciary duties with respect to how they managed 401(k) and other types of retirement plans, requiring plaintiffs to point to a defective process and not just a bad investment result. Plaintiffs also frequently assert that the breaches resulted in excessive fees or that fiduciaries engaged in prohibited transactions, which Cunningham v. Cornell made easier to plead.

More recently, there has been a wave of forfeiture class actions alleging that forfeited funds must be allocated to administrative expenses first before being paid to plan sponsors. Although many such claims have been dismissed, cases are pending before several circuit courts of appeal. Meanwhile, a circuit split has developed over arbitration and class waivers for ERISA litigation, often related to denial of benefits actions. Last but not least, Congress has introduced legislation attempting to address some of these issues.

Listen as this panel of ERISA class action litigators discusses the most important developments in 2025 in ERISA class actions.

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