Apparently there is something in the air these days about socially responsible investing and the fiduciary obligations of pension fiduciaries. I discussed here, just the other day, the argument that it is not a fiduciary breach to utilize a particular social agenda in investing and the litigation implications of that approach. Susan Mangiero has more
Fiduciaries
Socially Responsible Investing and Fiduciary Duties
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Fiduciaries
Here’s a little twist on an issue we have often discussed on this blog, namely the fiduciary obligations of plan sponsors and other fiduciaries. To what extent does the fiduciary obligation to properly manage and invest fund assets leave room to consider social, environmental or political agendas in selecting investments? This article, by Benjamin…
Supreme Court Rules on Beck v Pace
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I don’t generally like to play first to post, and would rather wait to see what I can add to the discussion of any particular issue before posting on a breaking story. But as I have been watching and waiting for the Supreme Court’s opinion in the ERISA fiduciary duty case of Beck v. Pace…
More on Amaranth and Fiduciaries’ Due Diligence Obligations
By Stephen Rosenberg on
In a post on Friday, I discussed how a large pension fund’s large losses from a hedge fund investment had given rise to litigation between the pension and the hedge fund, as discussed in this post in the WSJ Law Blog, and how it further raised the question of whether the pension plan’s fiduciaries might…
A Thought About Litigation Against Fiduciaries For Hedge Fund Losses
By Stephen Rosenberg on
We’ve talked a lot on this blog about the due diligence obligations of fiduciaries and other advisors to pensions, 401(k) plans and the like when it comes to investment choices. A story yesterday offers the opportunity for a little thought experiment demonstrating why it matters, and why anything less than stringent oversight and investigation of…
Excessive Fee Litigation, 401(k) Plans and LaRue
The current issue of the National Law Journal has an article providing an excellent overview of litigation over allegedly excessive fees charged on investments in 401(k) plans. The article notes the variations in the theories, and discusses what are likely to be large, class wide actions in the near future. There are those who think these…
LaRue v. DeWolff, Losses to the Plan and the Supreme Court
SCOTUSBLOG is the NY Times, or maybe – given its focus on one particular field – the Wall Street Journal, of the legal blog world. With the backing of a major international law firm, it brings tremendous resources to its in-depth coverage of all things goings on at the Supreme Court. Cripes, the blog even…
Pension Performance, 401(k) Plans and Breach of Fiduciary Duty Litigation
By Stephen Rosenberg on
This is an interesting paper, that comes to us via Workplace Prof, and which provokes further thought on the issue of the litigation boom involving 401(k) plans. The paper finds that pension plans outperform mutual funds, and attributes that differential to costs buried within mutual funds, as well as to the size of…
401(k) Plans and Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawsuits
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I have written before, and frequently (such as here and here), about the coming boom in litigation against plan sponsors and fiduciaries over alleged excessive fees and other alleged malfeasance in the administration of 401(k) plans. One point I have tried to drive home in my posts, including here and here, is that…
Beck v Pace International Union
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Well, my trial’s still ongoing, and I find myself short of time to really comment in any detail on the latest details in the always percolating and never quiet world of ERISA and insurance law. However, I do still find time to continue my own reading on the subject, and so I am able to…