ERISA/Employee Benefits Litigation

We defend businesses, insurers, governmental entities, service providers, and nonprofit organizations in class action litigation, as well as benefits litigation and disputes initiated by the US Department of Labor (DOL).

Our 401(k) plan class actions experience includes:

• 401(k) plan fee structures: We represent plan sponsors and service providers in ERISA class actions alleging excessive fees and expenses for plan participants, and in class actions alleging breach of fiduciary duty for failure to disclose fee structures or challenge investments in certain types of outside funds (such as private equity funds, hedge funds, and derivatives).
• 401(k) plan administration: We represent clients in class actions alleging that prohibited transactions (such as revenue-sharing payments) or other purportedly impermissible administrative actions have occurred.
• 401(k) and employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) investments in company stock (stock drop) and other diversification issues: We defend class actions alleging breaches of fiduciary duty in connection with 401(k) company stock investments in ESOPs, eligible individual account plans (EIAPs), and other investments.

Our litigators also have experience defending:

• ESOP challenges to consideration paid for privately held employer stock
• Indemnification agreement disputes as to fiduciaries in the ESOP context
• DOL investigations and lawsuits
• Challenges to the long-standing designation of retirement plans as exempt from ERISA under the church plan exemption, as well as cases alleging unlawful or imprudent plan fees and expenses in church plans
• Retirement plan claims alleging undervalued lump-sum distributions or benefits payments and breaches of fiduciary duty
• Class actions alleging violations of ERISA’s nonforfeitability and disclosure rules in connection with the conversion of traditional defined-benefit pension plans to cash balance plans
• Other alleged violations of ERISA’s anticutback provision and similar accrued benefit theories
• Challenges to the calculation of lump-sum payouts (including cost-of-living adjustment valuations)
• Retiree medical class actions regarding changes made to retiree medical plans, including collectively bargained plans
• Other claims regarding contributions or changes to collectively bargained pension, health, and welfare plans
• So-called provider assignment cases, in which medical providers purport to have assignments from plan participants and seek to invoke ERISA as an additional class action remedy for pay and reimbursement disputes
• Suits regarding the calculation of service provider expenses, including disputed calculations of usual, customary, and reasonable medical reimbursements
• Section 510 retaliation claims, including claims regarding Affordable Care Act requirements
• Matters involving the propriety of plans’ strategic asset allocation and portfolio investments
• Challenges to proprietary mutual fund or insurance offerings
• Lawsuits regarding the use of plan assets for allegedly improper purposes
• Benefit coordination and offset challenges
• Cases regarding the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), Section 204(h), and other statutory notice violations
• Challenges to the payment of life insurance benefits through retained asset accounts (RAAs), including claims that such payments are prohibited and are breaches of fiduciary duty under ERISA
• Cases brought against Taft-Hartley Act (jointly administered) pension and health and welfare funds, including cases asserting improper crediting or offsetting of benefit calculations, claims alleging prohibited transactions, and assertions of delinquencies
• Other matters involving allegations of failure to disclose and/or misrepresentation of investment or administrative information
• Other claims for wrongful denial of benefits 

We advise clients on ERISA consulting and reporting requirements, insurance regulation, investment management regulatory compliance, bankruptcy, and US and international taxation. Where appropriate, our employee benefits litigation team collaborates with our colleagues in these areas to provide cost-effective, cross-disciplinary services and to create optimal solutions to our clients’ interconnected business and litigation needs.

Our client services include:

• Affordable Care Act compliance training and litigation preparedness
• Risk assessments and audits, design of best practices in fiduciary compliance, and advice on plan design and benefits-related human resources and labor relations matters
• Advice and training for plan sponsors, financial services providers, trustees, benefits fiduciaries, and others on litigation risks and prevention through litigation monitoring, educational programming, and ongoing communications
• Counseling for benefits committees of major corporations and large nonprofits with fiduciary responsibility for administering qualified and nonqualified employee benefits plans, as well as counseling for the independent fiduciaries that serve those plans
• Advice on case law and regulatory and legislative developments to ensure that clients are aware of and understand the practical implications of key judicial decisions; regulations issued by the DOL, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); and pertinent legislative initiatives in the US Congress
• Roundtables and seminars that provide real-time updates on the most serious trends affecting employee benefits plans