JD
By Nevin E. Adams, JD 4/15/2022
Spurred by the recent cryptocurrency “compliance assistance release,” nearly a dozen industry trade groups—including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—have expressed concern about “a trend at EBSA away from rulemaking based on a robust notice and comment process.”
While the cryptocurrency CAR may have...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/31/2022
It’s been fun watching “Coach K” take another team to the Sweet 16 this year—hard to believe he’s been coaching for nearly half a century.
I had the opportunity to see Mike Krzyzewski coach in person just once—and in the not-so-friendly confines of the claustrophobic Cameron Indoor Stadium (no, I...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/28/2022
It’s hard to believe that just two years ago many of us went into our places of work, packed up, and went home for what most thought would be a week, maybe two—and wound up being a lot more than that.
In March 2020, my wife and I had just returned from a funeral in the Boston area. While the worst...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/23/2022
The law firm of Schlichter Bogard & Denton has a new target—with some familiar accusations.
This time (Mills v. Molina Healthcare, Inc., C.D. Cal., No. 2:22-cv-01813, complaint 3/18/22) they are representing plaintiffs Michelle Mills, Coy Sarell, Chad Westover, Brent Aleshire, Barbara Kershner...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/10/2022
It’s not all about “the Benjamins,” but a recent analysis of the nation’s private retirement system certainly puts a lot of emphasis on the accumulation of aggregate assets in retirement plans.
The Morningstar report—“Retirement Plan Landscape Report, An In-Depth Look at the Trends and Forces...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/2/2022
With a filing date looming, the parties in another excessive fee suit have announced a settlement.
The announcement came in a suit (Latasha Davis et al. v. Washington University in St. Louis et al.) originally filed in June 2017 by Latasha Davis and Jennifer Elliott[1] on behalf of the Washington...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/1/2022
Despite a request—and an apparent consideration of that request—the nation’s highest court has decided not to take on a case challenging the CalSavers state-run IRA program for private sector workers.
The original suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 2/23/2022
A $14 million excessive fee settlement has been approved by a federal judge, though there was an objection raised by one of the members of the participant class.
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle signed off on the deal presented by the parties (plaintiffs Chandra V. Brown-Davis, Yolanda Brown...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 2/11/2022
Last week, a group representing advisors who sell annuities challenged the legality of the fiduciary rule in federal court—and now a second suit filed in a different federal court accuses the Labor Department of making law with a series of FAQs.
This suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 2/3/2022
Noting that “pouring the same old wine into a new bottle does not change the result,” a new lawsuit seeks to vacate the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule as expressed in PTE 2020-02.
The suit—filed by the Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice Inc., joined by several advisors and advisory...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 2/3/2022
Looks like those hoping for some clarity on a threshold issue involving ERISA fee litigation will have to wait for another day.
I’m referring, of course, to last week’s ruling by the Supreme Court on the case of Hughes v. Northwestern University et al.—a case that the law firm of Schlichter Bogard...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 2/1/2022
The ink was barely dry on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in an excessive fee case—and a federal judge who “…been awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision in Hughes v. Northwestern University,” has applied its ruling in refusing to dismiss another, similar suit.
The participant-plaintiffs[1] here (...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 1/25/2022
In a ruling likely to make it harder—perhaps much harder—to dismiss excessive fee lawsuits, the U.S. Supreme Court has remanded for further consideration a lower court decision that had favored the fiduciary defendants.
In a unanimous decision[1] (Hughes v. Northwestern University et al., case...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 1/24/2022
(Yet) another excessive fee suit has been filed against a billion dollar 403(b) plan by the Capozzi Adler law firm.
Filing suit as participants (and former employees) of the Boston Children’s Hospital Corporation Tax-Deferred Annuity Plan are Adilson Monteiro, Karen Ginsburg, Jason Lutan, and...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 1/21/2022
The addition of an arbitration clause has—for the moment, anyway—paused an excessive fee suit. But what’s interesting is how the court applied the terms of that clause.
The suit had been brought by plaintiffs Lawanda Holmes, Ani M. Miller and Brittany E. Roxbury (“by and through their attorneys...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 1/20/2022
Capozzi Adler PC[1] has found another target for excessive fee claims—and this one is a $10 billion 403(b) plan.
This time the defendants are the fiduciaries (and those who appointed them) of the Consolidated 403(b) Program of Mass General Brigham and Member Organizations—a plan that “at all times...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 1/19/2022
Another fiduciary breach suit has been filed involving a series of target funds with a short, and allegedly poor, track record.
This time it’s participant-plaintiff Joanna P. Mattson bringing suit “individually and on behalf of the Milliman, Inc. Profit Sharing and Retirement Plan and a class of...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 1/18/2022
A new paper rehashes (and embraces) some old beliefs, blatantly ignores the full impact of workplace savings, disregards the reality that deferrals are temporary—and kills a lot of trees in the process.
The diatribe’s author, perhaps because he’s affiliated with a law school, perhaps because the...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 1/12/2022
It’s taken a while for the details to emerge, but we finally know the terms of a proprietary fund settlement—cash and a plan design “twist.”
This suit—filed way back on Valentine’s Day, 2017—involves allegations by a participant in its own plan (and funds), one David G. Feinberg, on behalf of the...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 1/4/2022
Which is more powerful—a generous match, or a high savings rate default?
As it turns out, Christmas Eve brought us a new white paper with the fairly innocuous title, “The Impact of Employer Defaults and Match Rates on Retirement Saving.” Indeed, there have been plenty of surveys (and tons of data...
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