Many years ago, I remember hearing the comment that you knew Nixon was done for when Johnny Carson turned against him in his monologue, because Carson was a perfect proxy – some hip writer today (or maybe just some writer today trying to be hip) would instead call him an avatar – for the thinking
401(k) Plans
You Say Securities, I Say ERISA
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans, Fiduciaries
I have to admit I have found the Workplace Prof blog tough sledding since the site’s founding blogger, Paul Secunda, took retirement from the site, apparently to spend more time in the snow in Wisconsin. Without Paul, the blog has trended heavily towards labor law and lacks the type of frequent, insightful commentary…
Excessive Fee Litigation and the Small Plan
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans, Fiduciaries
It has become a given in any talk on 401(k) plans and fiduciary liability that I give these days – my comment that, when the market was always going up, up, up, no one cared that they might have made 15% instead of 14% but for some unresolved problem with a plan’s structure, but with…
Thoughts on Costs and Fees in 401(k) Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans, Industry News
In my last post, I mentioned a seminar I gave recently on insurance coverage issues and commented on one of the themes of my presentation. Another theme I emphasized in that talk was the fact that modern insurance coverage law is basically 20 years old, with its fountainhead being the development of the law of…
Hecker, InsideCounsel and Defensive Plan Building
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Hecker is the gift that keeps on giving, for either an academic or a blogger (or perhaps a blogger with an academic frame of mind). It presents a wealth of issues warranting further consideration, running from those commented on in my prior posts on the Seventh Circuit’s decision, to one I haven’t even passed on…
Looking at Fiduciary Performance from the Vantage Point of a Plan Participant
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans, Fiduciaries
I had dinner recently with the brothers Alfred, Mike and Ryan, two of the co-founders of BrightScope, and much of the conversation centered around the question of transitioning the management and analysis of 401(k) plans from a practice oriented perspective to a plan participant oriented one. Translated into practical terms, this encompasses the…
Hecker and the Development of the Law on the 404(c) Defense
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Surprisingly, the Stock Market Decline is Leading to Litigation . . .
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans
You know what a dog bites man story is, right? Well, here’s one, though a well-written one. This piece on CFO.com surveys the collateral damage from the Wall Street collapse, with a focus on its severe impact on 401(k) plans and the corresponding increase in fiduciary duty litigation. It is a well done piece that…
Pension Fiduciaries in the Hot Seat – What to Avoid and How to React if Sued
By Stephen Rosenberg on
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…
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…