Oddly, this appears to be “calculating benefits” week among the courts of the First Circuit. In addition to the LeBlanc case I discussed in the last post, the First Circuit just ruled on a case involving a challenge to the calculation of pension benefits. Just as in the LeBlanc case, where a district court found
Retirement Benefits
On Regulation of Fiduciaries and Pension Plan Vendors
By Stephen Rosenberg on
I was interviewed by a reporter recently concerning the subprime mess and its implications for pension plan fiduciaries, and the issue came up as to whether further regulation was the answer, as she had heard from a number of others. To me, the ongoing problem we are seeing with fiduciary breaches – or at least…
Roundup at the LaRue Corral
Thoughts on the Oral Argument in LaRue v. DeWolf, Boberg
Just read the transcript of Monday’s oral argument in LaRue, which you too can read right here. Interesting argument, and interesting lines of questions from the court, although I am skeptical as to how much guidance as to the court’s thinking one can draw from the Justice’s questions themselves. In many ways, the…
LaRue v DeWolff, Broberg and the Concept of Administration Risk in ERISA Plans
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Oral argument at the Supreme Court is scheduled for Monday in LaRue v DeWolff, Broberg & Associates, which presents the technical question of whether a loss to only one participant’s 401(k) plan is actionable as a breach of fiduciary duty causing a loss to the plan, but which on a broader level concerns the…
Is Subprime the New Stock Drops?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
The consensus in the legal community, and I don’t think it is just because they are looking hopefully for a new flow of work, has for awhile now been that fund investment losses resulting from exposure to the subprime mortgage mess will eventually generate substantial ERISA related litigation. There are plenty of avenues for these…
Choice Architecture, 401(k) Plans and Race: The Answer to a Conundrum?
By Stephen Rosenberg on
Posted in Retirement Benefits
I have talked before on this blog about behavioral economics and choice architecture, which concerns the idea that how we structure retirement savings options will affect whether, and how successfully, people save for retirement. You can find a couple of my earlier posts on this issue here and here. In a provocative post –…
Number of Suits + Questionable Practices = X
By Stephen Rosenberg on
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…
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…
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…