Backdating. It’s a scandal. No, not that backdating. I mean when bloggers can’t get to something when it first comes up, and then go back in time to talk about it. That’s what I mean by backdating, and that’s what I am going to do today. Last week, I read, but didn’t have a
Fiduciaries
Big Questions From A Small Story on a (Relatively) Small Loss
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Here’s a short newspaper story of a local municipal pension plan that suffered a $2.4 million loss to its pension fund, which is only about a $53 million fund, as a result of investments in subprime mortgage backed assets made either by State Street or in State Street funds (the article isn’t clear on the…
Excessive Fee Litigation: A Real Problem or An Imaginary One?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans, Fiduciaries
Here’s a piece passed along by the Workplace Prof, noting the rise in excessive fee litigation under ERISA. I have noted before that the combination of demographic and economic factors with the ruling in LaRue is going to create more of these types of actions over the years, not less, and thus I share…
Pension Estimates: Not Worth The Computer They Are Printed On
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Fiduciaries, Pensions
Here’s an interesting decision out of the First Circuit yesterday, concerning errors in providing estimates of pension amounts to participants and whether a participant can hold the sponsor to the erroneous estimate, rather than receive only the correct amount under the actual terms of the retirement plan in question. Short answer? A participant only gets…
Does Employer Stock Even Belong In Retirement Plans?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Should there even be employer securities in a 401(k) plan or other retirement vehicle? That’s the million dollar question (or more like the hundred million dollar question) that cases like those arising out of the Bear Stearns collapse raise. Moreover, it goes right to the underlying tension between ERISA and the securities laws that plays…
Passing Along Some Reading on Excessive Fee Cases and Other Timely ERISA Topics
By Stephen Rosenberg on
What would this blog be if it was done as a newsletter instead? Well, probably something like this new ERISA newsletter out of Proskauer Rose, with its detailed but readable length discussions of current events in the field, such as the Supreme Court’s recent decision in LaRue and the Supreme Court’s consideration of whether to…
What Happens When ERISA and the Law of Insurance Coverage Collide?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Wow, I guess this is really Seventh Circuit week here, with, I guess, a particular focus on the jurisprudence of Judge Easterbrook, whose opinion in Baxter I discussed in my last post. This time, I turn to his decision from Wednesday in Federal Insurance Co. v. Arthur Andersen, which strikes right at the intersection…
What LaRue Wrought
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Suzanne Wynn has the story of the day when it comes to ERISA litigation, as she posts on the Seventh Circuit’s application of LaRue to exactly the type of case that, had the Supreme Court ruled otherwise, would have gone away without any potential liability on the part of the fiduciaries or, for that matter,…
The Meaning of Justice Roberts’ Concurrence in LaRue
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans, Fiduciaries
There’s nothing really new in this piece for those who have already closely followed and studied the LaRue decision (how’s that for opening with a bang?), but this column on the decision in the April 2008 issue of Metropolitan Corporate Counsel magazine by two Proskauer attorneys is interesting. They focus on playing out the meaning…
Back to the Well: Fiduciaries and Subprime Assets
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I guess this is the flip side of all the grief that is starting to come down on fiduciaries for excessive – or at least what seems to plaintiffs’ lawyers to be excessive in hindsight – exposure to the subprime mortgage mess in pension and 401(k) holdings: pension plan fiduciaries now adding such exposure to…