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Institutional Investors and Public Pension Funds Denounce SEC's Push for Forced Arbitration

"A coalition of more than 60 major institutional investors and pension systems, collectively managing trillions of dollars in direct assets and representing over $8 trillion globally through umbrella organizations and associations, released a letter this week strongly opposing the [SEC's] unprecedented policy reversal permitting companies to include forced arbitration provisions into their corporate charters and registration statements."

Eleventh Circuit Ruling Could Unravel Strict ERISA Exhaustion Rule

"A recent Eleventh Circuit decision opens up a route for overturning the appellate court's strictest-in-the-nation precedent requiring administrative exhaustion of all claims brought under [ERISA], ... given that two judges in a panel concurrence advocated for such action following en banc review." [Bolton v. Inland Fresh Seafood Corp. of Am., Inc., No. 24-10084 (11th Cir. Oct. 15, 2025)]

Defying Arbitration: ERISA's Fight to Stay in Court

"While ERISA claims are indeed arbitrable as a general matter, a growing number of circuit courts have ruled that arbitration clauses cannot overreach and extinguish substantive remedies. Several plan sponsors have tried to add arbitration clauses that waive plan-wide remedies, but courts have found them to constitute prospective waivers of participants' statutory rights, rendering them unenforceable under the 'effective vindication' doctrine."

District Court Approves $7.9M Settlement Against Hedge Fund in 401(k) Class Action

"[T]he plaintiffs alleged that 100% of GWA LLC 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan investments (all of which were 401(k) assets) were and continued to be invested in The Weiss Funds ... Plaintiffs further claimed that the Weiss Mutual Fund lacked the performance history, market acceptance, and cost structure to be a substantial investment for the 401(k) plan." [Andrews-Berry v. George A Weiss, No. 23-0978 (D. Conn. settlement approved Sep. 19, 2025)]

AT&T Can't Escape Suit Over Pension Plan's Mortality Data

"AT&T must face a proposed class action claiming it miscalculated married couples' pension benefits, a California federal judge ruled, saying workers leading the suit provided evidence that the telecommunications company's use of decades-old mortality data and interest rates was unreasonable." [Scott v. AT&T Inc., No. 20-7094 (N.D. Calif. Jul. 9, 2025)]

Southern Company Retirees Urge Eleventh Circuit to Revive Pension Suit

"The proposed class of Southern Company pension plan participants ... entered a reply brief with the appellate court on [March 20] ... arguing a district court wrongly found that companies have the discretion to define for themselves what the term 'actuarial equivalent' means under Section 1055(d) of ERISA." [Drummond v. Southern Company Services, Inc., No. 22-0174 (N.D. Ga. Jul. 30, 2024; on appeal to 11th Cir. No. 24-12773)]

Pluralsight Reaches $20 Million Settlement with Public School Retirement Funds

"The class action lawsuit, first filed in 2019 and revived in 2022, claimed Pluralsight and its founding executives knowingly misled investors about their company's success, artificially inflated stock prices and cashed out before stock prices plummeted. The lead plaintiffs in the case are two funds responsible for managing retirement and benefit accounts for public employees in Indiana and Chicago, Illinois. Each fund bought thousands of common stock shares when Pluralsight went public in 2018, according to court documents, and lost millions of dollars as a result." [Indiana Public Retirement System v. Pluralsight, Inc., No. 19-0128 (D. Utah Feb. 5, 2025)]

Citgo Settles Lawsuit Challenging Plan Mortality Tables

"Citgo will ... settle a class action alleging it shorted early retirement payouts by basing the allowances on outdated mortality tables that used data from the 1970s ... Citgo has agreed to increase the value of retirees' annuities by $10 million, calculated as additional present value added to their benefits[.]" [Urlaub v. Citgo Petroleum Corp., No. 21-4133 (N.D. Ill. settlement agreement filed Oct. 2, 2024)]

Hedge Fund Inks Deal In ERISA 401(k) Investment Suit

"A Connecticut-based hedge fund that went bankrupt and owner George A. Weiss have agreed to pay $7.9 million to end an ex-worker's suit alleging the company plowed its employees' retirement savings into two substandard proprietary funds[.]" [Andrew-Berry v. George A. Weiss and GWA, LLC, No. 23-0978 (D. Conn. motion for settlement Sep. 27, 2024)]

Court Certifies ERISA Class Action Challenging CITGO Pension Actuarial Assumptions

"[A] federal judge certified a class of more than 1,700 participants and beneficiaries in two of CITGO Petroleum Corporation's pension plans.... The lawsuit against CITGO alleges that the Houston-based gas and energy giant violated [ERISA] by failing to properly calculate joint and survivor annuity ('JSA') benefits for retired employees and imposing a 'marriage penalty' that reduced their monthly pension payments." [Urlaub v. Citgo Petroleum Corp., No. 21-4133 (N.D. Ill. May 16, 2024)]