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Text of Eighth Circuit Opinion Dismissing ERISA Stock Drop Suit Against Wells Fargo (PDF)

13 pages. "This appeal arises out of the unauthorized-accounts scandal at Wells Fargo.... The initial public disclosure of the fraud caused the market value of Wells Fargo's stock to drop drastically ... Appellants alleged that, by failing to take corrective measures to protect the Plan participants, such as publicly disclosing Wells Fargo's unethical sales practices prior to September 2016, freezing investment in the Wells Fargo Stock Funds, or purchasing a hedging product, Appellees breached their duties of prudence and loyalty under ERISA.... We find that a prudent fiduciary -- even one who knows disclosure is inevitable and that earlier disclosure may ameliorate some harm to the company's stock price and reputation -- could readily conclude that it would do more harm than good to disclose information about Wells Fargo's sales practices prior to the completion of the government's investigation. " [Allen v. Wells Fargo, No. 18-2781 (8th Cir. Jul. 27, 2020)]

Amicus Brief from Employer Organizations to Eighth Circuit in Wells Fargo Forfeiture Case (PDF)

38 pages. "Plaintiff invites this Court to disrupt the long-standing consensus regarding the use of forfeitures. His theory is that forfeitures may not be used as employer contributions, notwithstanding that Wells Fargo's Plan documents expressly authorize just that. He offers no valid basis for ... contradicting the Treasury Department's position by adopting this novel approach.... The Court should reject Plaintiff's efforts to require employers to offer purported benefits ... that have no basis in the text of ERISA or the Plan documents." [Matula v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 24-3703 [D. Minn. Jun. 18, 2025; on appeal to 8th Cir. No. 25-2441)]

Latest Healthcare Fiduciary Lawsuit Filed Against Wells Fargo

"[T]he plaintiffs ... allege that Wells Fargo paid its pharmacy benefit manager high prices for generic drugs that were available at significantly lower prices ... [and] that most of the increased cost was paid by plan assets.... The suit also alleges that Wells Fargo paid too much in administrative fees compared to plans both similar in size to and smaller than the Wells Fargo plan." [Navarro v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 24-3043 (D. Minn. complaint filed Jul. 30, 2024)]

Lawsuit Against Wells Fargo Highlights Increasing Focus on Health and Welfare Plan Fiduciaries

"The Wells Fargo complaint echoes many of the same claims as in the JNJ suit ... [N]ew in the Wells Fargo complaint is an allegation the plan fiduciaries engaged in prohibited transactions ... by causing the Plan to pay excessive and unreasonable administrative fees to its PBM.... Health plan fiduciaries should strongly consider these steps to help reduce their litigation exposure[.]" [Navarro v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 24-3043 (D. Minn. complaint filed Jul. 30, 2024)]

Wells Fargo Faces Lawsuit Over Alleged Health Plan Mismanagement and Inflated Prescription Costs

"The core of the Minnesota lawsuit revolves around claims that Wells Fargo's health plan pays inflated prices to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).... One striking example cited in the lawsuit involves the cancer medication bexarotene. Wells Fargo's health plan allegedly paid over $69,000 for a tube of bexarotene, which could be purchased for as little as $3,750 at other pharmacies." [Navarro v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 24-3043 (D. Minn. complaint filed Jul. 30, 2024)]

New Lawsuit Accuses Wells Fargo 401(k) Plan Fiduciaries of Self-Dealing

"[T]he plaintiff says the retirement plan committee defendants failed to satisfy threshold procedural norms needed for a non-conflicted fiduciary to satisfy its duties of loyalty and prudence under ERISA. According to the complaint, the committee defendants selected and retained Wells Fargo products over materially identical, yet cheaper, non-proprietary alternatives; selected Wells Fargo products that had no performance history that could form the basis of a fiduciary's objective decision-making process; and failed to remove proprietary funds despite sustained underperformance." [Becker v. Wells Fargo, No. 20-1803 (N.D. Cal. complaint filed Mar. 13, 2020)]

Text of District Court Opinion Dismissing Participant Claims of Breach of ERISA Duty of Loyalty in Wells Fargo Stock Drop Claim (PDF)

"[P]laintiffs do not claim that defendants misled them about 'plan- and benefit- specific information,' such as the terms of Wells Fargo's 401(k) plan.... Instead, plaintiffs claim that defendants failed to disclose inside corporate information 'that might affect the value of the corporation's stock' -- information that would be of interest to every member of the investing public.... [To] the extent that plaintiffs' loyalty claim relies solely on defendants' nondisclosure of inside information about Wells Fargo's present and future financial condition, plaintiffs' loyalty claim must be dismissed." [In re: Wells Fargo ERISA 401(k) Litigation, No. 16-3405 (D. Minn. July 19, 2018)]

Wells Fargo Scores Rare Win in 401(k) Fee Litigation Series

"The allegations of high fees and poor performance failed, a federal judge ruled ... because the investors didn't provide a meaningful benchmark for comparing the Wells Fargo funds. The investors pointed to lower-fee funds offered by Vanguard, but the judge rejected this comparison after finding that the Vanguard funds had a different investment strategy than the Wells Fargo target-date funds. The judge also said Wells Fargo can't be held liable for 'failing to choose the cheapest fund.' " [Meiners v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 16-3981 (D. Minn. May 25, 2017]

Wells Fargo Cross-Selling Scandal Spawns ERISA Class Action

"[T]he new lawsuit alleges that Wells Fargo allowed workers to continue investing retirement savings in the company's stock, despite knowing that stock price was artificially inflated because of the not-yet-uncovered cross-selling scheme. According to the complaint, Wells Fargo's stock price nearly doubled during the six-year period of increased cross-selling, before dropping in value once news of the scheme broke." [Allen v. Wells Fargo, No. 16-3405 (D. Minn., complaint filed Oct. 7, 2016)]

Wells Fargo Comment Letter to SEC on Duties of Brokers, Dealers and Investment Advisers (PDF)

"Wells Fargo's support for a uniform fiduciary duty is conditioned on the SEC's conduct of a proper cost-benefit analysis, and upon the adoption of a cost-effective standard that preserves investor choice, is business model neutral and avoids regulatory conflict or duplication.... Wells Fargo also notes that the Commission currently has access to an extensive body of existing research comparing standards of care for brokers, dealers and investment advisers."