I and a cast of thousands will be speaking at a webinar on April 14th on “Pension Fiduciaries in the Hot Seat – What to Avoid and How to React if Sued,” put on by Pension Governance, Inc. Well, its not really a cast of thousands, just me and four very experienced worthies, who know
401(k) Plans
How Much Information Is Enough to Decide A Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawsuit?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Is a motion to dismiss a good tool for disposing of major breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits? In essence, should it be treated as a mini-summary judgment proceeding, that tests the sufficiency of the case’s theories against, not the detailed facts of a specific case, but instead against the world as a whole as understood…
Asking the Seventh Circuit to Revisit Hecker
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I was going to post on something else today – namely the scope of contractual obligation clauses in insurance policies – but my Google Alert pulled in something else that I wanted to pass along first instead, namely, this post by Paul Secunda at Marquette on an amicus brief filed by several law professors asking…
Notes on Hecker v Deere
By Stephen Rosenberg on
The Seventh Circuit’s opinion in Hecker v Deere is interesting in a number of ways, and on a number of levels. I won’t detail the facts of the case in depth here, but the case turns on the question of the plan sponsor’s and service providers’ potential fiduciary liability for allegedly high fees in the…
Shining a BrightScope on Heckler v. John Deere
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Still parceling out items of interest that have stacked up on my desk in the last week or so. Among the things I still haven’t gotten to, I have to admit, is a careful reading of the Seventh Circuit’s recent decision in Heckler v John Deere, but I will, shortly. In the meantime, though…
Do People Who Are Told the Truth Sue?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans, Fiduciaries
I love this story. A couple of weeks ago I blogged about BrightScope’s launch, and pointed out my view that more information generally means less litigation. I learned thereafter that some think that is a counter-intuitive thought; presumably, people who believe that think that if you cover up problems and don’t let people…
Bunch v. W.R. Grace: What a Breach of Fiduciary Duty Doesn’t Look Like
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans, Fiduciaries
I cannot do better by anybody interested in fiduciary obligations under ERISA than to recommend to you the First Circuit’s decision the other day in Bunch v. W.R. Grace & Co.. For those of you not familiar with the lower court proceedings in that case, what was at issue is whether it was…
BrightScope and 401(k)s
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans, ERISA Seminars and other Resources
Holy Transparency, Batman! If you like Zillow, and you have a 401(k) plan, have I got a website for you. BrightScope has now publicly launched its rating website, in which you plug in a particular company’s name and the site then provides you with a colorful, graphic presentation of that particular plan’s performance and…
The Trend Lines in ERISA Litigation
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Itzoe and Reish on the Fee Disclosure Regulations
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans
By the way, I really like Josh Itzoe’s post here on the new DOL investment fee disclosure rules, which consists of a well-done interview by e-mail with Los Angeles lawyer Fred Reish. I have noted before that the interview style blog post is the most difficult to do well, and Josh pulls it off with…