I have talked, certainly more than once, about the fact that the law governing fiduciary obligations in the realm of retirement plans is evolving, and most recently I commented on how it looks as though the Supreme Court is poised to weigh in on the direction of this evolution in the case law. Some of
Fiduciaries
More on Whether Socially Conscious Investing Is a Breach of Fiduciary Duty
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I have raised before the question of whether so-called socially conscious investing would be a breach of fiduciary duty if undertaken by a pension plan or 401(k) fiduciary. The National Law Journal has a neat opinion piece by law professor Edward Zelinsky right now to the effect that it would be. Here’s a link…
Reinsurance and LaRue, All in the Same Post
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Instead of posting twice in the same morning, I am going to try to address two distinct substantive issues, one involving reinsurance and the other ERISA, all in the same post, hopefully without turning this post into some sort of Frankenstein monster combination of topics that instead should have been kept entirely separate.
On the…
Some Thoughts on Behavioral Economics, 401(k) Plan Architecture and the Potential Liabilities of Fiduciaries
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in 401(k) Plans, Fiduciaries
I have blogged before about behavioral economics, and the question of whether how we structure retirement investment choices will affect whether plan participants successfully save for retirement. Two recent articles really drive home this point. In the first one, “Choice Architecture and Retirement Savings Plans,” the authors posit that the design of…
More Education is Always Better than Less: American Conference Institute’s Upcoming Seminar on 401(k) Risks
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I mentioned in yesterday’s post that my goal for the week was to move rapidly through several items that had caught my attention over the last week or so, and that I wanted to pass on to readers of this blog. I thought the next one I would mention is this conference in New York…
401(k) Plans and Increasing Liability Risks for Fiduciaries
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Coming off the holiday weekend, I have a long list of items I want to pass on or talk about. I will try to put up as many as I can over the next few posts, to work through the backlog. I thought I would start with this one, because it ties two of the…
Another View on Whether a Cashed Out 401(k) Participant Has Standing to Sue for Losses Under ERISA
Judge Tauro, of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, has weighed in lately on some of the more cutting edge and currently unsettled issues in ERISA litigation, such as the impact of ERISA preemption on the powers of a state agency. This week, he ventured into the now hot topic…
I Got Them Low Down No Good Pension Blues
By Stephen Rosenberg on
On the first Monday morning in August I expect things to lighten up with lots of people on vacation and the like, so I scheduled a breakfast meeting this morning right in the middle of one of Massachusetts’ most congested highways (well, not really in the middle of the highway, more like at a restaurant…
Functional Fiduciaries in the First Circuit
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Fiduciaries
I am kind of fond of this recent disability benefits case out of the United States District Court for the District of Maine for one particular reason, namely its discussion of functional fiduciaries, and thought I would pass it along as a result. Confronted with the question of whether Metropolitan Life, the administrator, was a…
The Interrelationship of Suits for Benefits and for Breach of Fiduciary Duty Under ERISA
By Stephen Rosenberg on
If it seems like I have been digressing a lot these past couple of weeks off of the primary topics of this blog and into other areas that interest me – such as the billable hour system – or that I practice in, like intellectual property litigation, it is because the courts of the…