"The suit also states that the defendant allowed BANA and its affiliate Merrill Lynch to act under the plan as trustee, custodian, recordkeeper, and/or investment manager, 'which presents conflicts of interest that implicate prohibited transactions under ERISA.' ... [The complaint also alleges] 'that Defendant has also allowed BANA to use its affiliate's role as recordkeeper to obtain information for use in its role as investment advisor.' " [Ventura v. Lithia Motors, Inc., No. 26-1786 (C.D. Calif. complaint filed Feb. 19, 2026)] MORE >>
"If the Supreme Court determines that all that is necessary for plaintiffs to plead is that fees are too high or performance is subpar when reviewed against a general index, 401(k) plan fiduciaries will have far greater exposure to being sued because more claims will survive a motion to dismiss." [Anderson v. Intel Corp. Inv. Policy Comm., No. 22-16268 (9th Cir. May 22, 2025; cert. pet. granted Jan 16, 2026, No. 25-498)] MORE >>
"Last year saw a near-record 155 fiduciary class lawsuits filed by plaintiffs' firms alleging violations of [ERISA] and breaches of fiduciary duty.... Defined contribution plans remained the most frequent target in these cases, named in 63% of last year's ERISA class action litigation. As in prior years, most lawsuits alleged excessive recordkeeping and/or investment fees.... Five of the last six years saw lawsuit totals greater than the overall annual average of 60 cases per year for the past decade." MORE >>
"Given the turbulent dynamic and the increasingly costly world of retirement plan litigation, what can advisors and plan sponsors do to make sure to better guarantee they don't end up on the receiving end of a Schlichter-inspired suit?" MORE >>
"Some 14% of defined contribution plans surveyed in December ... reported that they had eliminated their managed account programs since late 2023.... Nearly 20% of the 165 lawsuits filed between 2019 and late 2022 alleging [ERISA] violations included a claim over managed account programs ... Of the suits including such claims, 42% alleged that the managed account service fees were excessive, while 31% claimed the managed accounts underperformed compared to other plan options." MORE >>
"Part 2 examines the newest fronts in ERISA litigation, including the surge in forfeiture and voluntary benefits lawsuits ... Also addressed is the growing role of documentation, engaged oversight, and defensible process as courts continue to emphasize prudence over outcomes. This installment also looks at the evolving regulatory environment ... and what that could mean for plan advisors and sponsors. Ultimately, Part 2 focuses on practical steps fiduciaries can take now to strengthen governance, tighten documentation, and reduce litigation exposure." MORE >>
"[The Cunningham] opinion flagged a handful of tactics lower courts could use to weed out flawed cases, including ordering plaintiffs to address affirmative defenses early on, assessing attorneys' fees and sanctions, and carefully scrutinizing whether cases should be dismissed for lack of actionable injuries. Trial court judges have begun to follow the high court's advice, providing a potential roadmap for defendants' attorneys juggling the hundreds of would-be class suits filed under ERISA over the past several years." MORE >>
"The complaint, originally filed in March 2020, alleges the defendants failed to negotiate comparable contractual terms for the 401(k) plan's guaranteed investment fund and the company's defined benefit plan. Consequently, the 401(k) plan's GIF paid a significantly lower interest rate than the identical investment in the pension plan." [Sweeney v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co., No. 20-1569 (S.D. Ohio Feb. 9, 2026)] MORE >>
"This summary focuses on the responsibilities and role of ERISA fiduciaries in managing plan investments.... [1] Evaluate and update the investment structure ... [2] Draft and periodically review the Investment Policy Statement (IPS) ... [3] 404(c) and QDIA oversight ... [4] Review and monitor investment manager performance ... [5] Monitor and benchmark plan fees ... [6] Managed accounts evaluation and monitoring ... [7] Oversee required employee communications ... [8] Review overall plan utilization ... [9] Review defined contribution trends and overall plan effectiveness." MORE >>
"In FY 2025, EBSA closed 878 civil investigations. Of those, 556 investigations (63 percent) produced monetary results for plans or other corrective action, for a total of $714.4 million recovered.... In FY 2025, [EBSA] obtained 297 non-monetary civil corrections, including: [1] removing 15 fiduciaries, [2] barring 24 individuals from serving as fiduciaries, [3] appointing 18 fiduciaries, [4] improving missing participant procedures for 49 plans, and [5] implementing 61 global corrections across multiple ERISA-covered health plans." MORE >>
"During December, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process inched up 20 basis points, from 100.1% to 100.3% of a plan's accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation, or ABO). That means the estimated retiree PRT cost is now 100.3% of a plan's ABO." MORE >>
"There is no statute that requires a 'meaningful benchmark.' ERISA's prudence standard focuses on process, not performance relative to a counterfactual benchmark. Benchmarks were a judicial convenience, not a substantive legal test." MORE >>
"the court will consider the 'meaningful benchmark' requirement that lower courts have applied when evaluating claims that retirement plan investments were mismanaged. Under that standard, plaintiffs must identify comparable alternative investments to show that plan fiduciaries acted imprudently. The Intel plaintiffs argue that the benchmark test has been applied inconsistently across federal circuits and sets too high a bar for workers seeking relief." [Anderson v. Intel Corp. Inv. Policy Comm., No. 22-16268 (9th Cir. May 22, 2025; cert. pet. granted Jan 16, 2026, No. 25-498)] MORE >>
"[T]he government asserted that the Sixth Circuit's ruling is incorrect and identifies two principal errors. The first error is the Sixth Circuit's conclusion that a plaintiff need not allege a meaningful benchmark to state a plausible claim of imprudence based on relative underperformance.... The second error asserted is the Sixth Circuit's acceptance that the plaintiffs below had pled a meaningful benchmark when asserting that the S&P Target Date Fund (TDF) was an appropriate comparator to the challenged funds." [Johnson v. Parker-Hannifin Corp., No. 24-3014 (6th Cir. Nov. 20, 2024; cert. pet filed Mar. 26, 2025, No. 24-1030; DOL amicus brief filed Dec. 9, 2025)\]MORE >>
"The decision reinforces that ERISA plaintiffs must allege specific, like‑for‑like comparisons to survive a motion to dismiss.... For plan sponsors, the ruling underscores that well‑documented, routine recordkeeping arrangements and monitoring processes can help defeat speculative ERISA fee litigation at the pleading stage." [Fleming v. Kellogg, No. 22-0593 (W.D. Mich. Dec. 8, 2025)] MORE >>
"Many small-plan sponsors are being nudged toward [target date funds] that slot in the recordkeeper's stable-value fund, a move that reduces administrative costs. The resulting lower fees benefit participants, but when cost-sharing arrangements start to shape a target-date manager's allocation decisions, they introduce real trade-offs. [This article looks at] what's driving the trend, how widespread it's become, and what those trade-offs mean for investors." MORE >>
"The class action lawsuit, dismissed in 2010, did not deter the NEA, but raised awareness of potential conflicts of interest when unions endorse costly financial/retirement products for their members." MORE >>
"According to the complaint, Fidelity's recordkeeping services to the ... plan created a conflict of interest because its affiliate, Fidelity Management Trust Co., served as trustee of the plan's assets, while Fidelity's separate affiliate, Strategic Advisors, served as investment advisers to the plan. The complaint alleges that Fidelity charged participants between $39 and $50 in annual administrative costs for the 2019 through 2023 plan years ... [while] comparable plans using Fidelity had costs of about $3 to $31 per participant[.]" [Clark v. Centene Corp., No. 25-09743 (C.D. Calif. complaint filed Nov. 12, 2025)] MORE >>
"As the default investment option in most retirement plans, TDFs typically hold the majority of plan assets -- yet many employers fail to evaluate them regularly, even as market conditions, participant demographics and fee structures continue to evolve. A TDF that was appropriate four years ago may now be underperforming, restructured or overpriced. In fact, average expense ratios have dropped significantly, especially for index-based and collective investment trust versions.1" MORE >>
"The number of new forfeitures cases has increased year over year, with five cases filed in 2023, 30 cases filed in 2024, and 43 cases filed so far in 2025 ... Cunningham has not yet resulted in a material increase in recordkeeping fee challenges or ERISA excessive fee lawsuits.... [S]table value funds have been the primary target in excessive fee lawsuits this year and investment challenges have significantly outnumbered recordkeeping fee challenges.... [There is] a trend toward lower settlements, including a growing number of six-figure settlements. " MORE >>
"According to the lawsuit, the firm allegedly permitted high administrative and investment management fees that disadvantaged the participants, without adequate due diligence to explore better options. It suggests that Husch Blackwell's oversight or lack thereof led to unnecessary financial burdens on employees participating in the 401(k) plan." [Paetkau v. Husch Blackwell LLC, No. 25-0721 (W.D. Mo. complaint filed Sep. 16, 2025)] MORE >>
"In its analysis of the testimony of the plaintiffs' experts, the court noted several areas of concern, concludng that one expert's conclusions were largely based on personal experience, not industry practices, and relied on 'approximations, generalities, and personal examples' instead of 'demonstrable data.' The court also pointed out the other expert's lack of familiarity with documents he claimed to rely on in forming his expert opinions." [McDonald v. Laboratory Corp. of Am. Holdings, No. 22-0680 (M.D.N.C. Aug. 12, 2025)] MORE >>
"According to the filing, Empower leveraged its role as recordkeeper for employer-sponsored retirement plans to harvest confidential participant data and then target individuals, particularly those nearing retirement or with large balances, for sales pitches. The plaintiffs allege sales representatives falsely portrayed Empower's 'managed account' program ... as the only recommended investment option."' [Williams‑Linzey v. Empower Advisory Group, LLC,
No. 25‑14660 (D.N.J. complaint filed Aug. 15, 2025) MORE >>
"Another 401(k) plan has been charged with a fiduciary breach quadfecta: excessive recordkeeping fees, expensive managed account charges, a poor performing stable value option -- and offsetting employer contributions with forfeitures." [(Babinski v. Siemens Energy Inc., No. 25-3381 (S.D. Tex. complaint filed Jul. 22, 2025)] MORE >>
"[O]ver the past 20+ years, public pensions, under pressure to meet high assumed returns (often ~7%), have embraced private equity for its historically higher reported returns versus public markets. These funds have universally underreported risks and fees (especially performance fees) and overstated investment performance by accepting rosy valuations from private equity managers." MORE >>
