Ortiz v. American Airlines, Inc., No. 20-10817, __ F.4th __, 2021 WL 3030550 (5th Cir. July 19, 2021) (Before Circuit Judges Smith, Stewart and Ho).
This is a case of procedural luck for defendants. If plaintiffs had the benefit of relitigating this case with 20/20 hindsight, the case would likely have played out much differently.Continue Reading Heads I Win, Tails You Lose
Peters v. Aetna Inc., No. 19-2085, __ F.3d __, 2021 WL 2546412 (4th Cir. June 22, 2021) (Before Circuit Judges Agee, Floyd, and Thacker)
In this case, the Fourth Circuit covers the whole shebang of ERISA: standing, fiduciary status, party in interest status, restitution, surcharge, disgorgement, and declaratory and injunctive relief for both an individual and a class. This opinion, which reads like an ERISA treatise, serves as a reminder of the many layers that exist within ERISA and its equity-based common law. What is not layered is the issue at the core of the suit: money.
Continue Reading Fourth Circuit Largely Rules for Plaintiffs in Class Action Challenge to Aetna/Optum Billing Practices
Becker v. Wells Fargo & Co., et al., No. 20-2016 (DWF/BRT), 2021 WL 1909632 (D. Minn. May 12, 2021) (Judge Donovan W. Frank).
The Notable Decision this week exemplifies a recent trend in the courts to allow 401(k) participants in litigation challenging the appropriateness of certain investments to move forward on their class action complaints even where the named plaintiff is not invested in all of the funds being challenged.
In this case against Wells Fargo, Yvonne Becker, a single named plaintiff, brought this putative class action alleging breach of fiduciary duty and prohibited transactions for selecting and retaining 17 Wells Fargo proprietary funds for its own 401(k) plan. She alleges that these funds not only underperformed their benchmarks, but that the fees are higher than similar non-proprietary funds. In addition, she alleges that Wells Fargo added newly launched proprietary funds that had no historical performance to evaluate whether they were appropriate investment options for the plan. Becker claims the higher fees on the proprietary funds increases the salaries for executives who serve as the plan’s fiduciaries and were used as seed money for the newly launched funds. Becker invested her 401(k) savings in Wells Fargo/State Street Target Date Collective Trusts, one of several investment options being challenged.
Continue Reading District Court Denies Wells Fargo’s Motion to Dismiss Proprietary Funds Case