Sacerdote v. New York University, No. 18-2707, __ F. 4th __, 2021 WL 3610355 (2d Cir. Aug. 16, 2021) (Before Circuit Judges Newman, Walker and Menashi).
This week’s notable decision is a partial victory for plaintiffs in the latest round of fee cases against universities that allegedly have not been too smart about their pension plan investments. The Second Circuit partially reversed the district court, which had dismissed or ruled in favor of the defendants on all claims.

Continue Reading Second Circuit Sends NYU Back to the Drawing Board

Mayer v. Ringler Assocs. Inc., No. 20-1281, __, F.4th __, 2021 WL 3556473 (2d Cir. Aug. 12, 2021) (Before Circuit Judges Walker, Sack, and Menashi).

This week’s notable decision demonstrates the uphill battle ERISA claimants face in litigation with insurers over their employee benefits, particularly where courts apply the highly deferential abuse of discretion standard. Here, because the court concluded that California’s ban on discretion was inapplicable to the claim of a New York resident, and the claim was governed by the old ERISA claims regulations of pre-January 2017, plaintiff’s defeat was assured.  Continue Reading What a Difference Discretion Makes

Below is a summary of this past week’s notable ERISA decisions by subject matter and jurisdiction.

Breach of Fiduciary Duty

Third Circuit

Johnson v. The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., No. 2:20-CV-01493-CCW, 2021 WL 3417843 (W.D. Pa. Aug. 3, 2021) (Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand). In this case plaintiffs alleged that defendants, ERISA plan fiduciaries, breached their duties of prudence and loyalty by overpaying certain administrative and record-keeping services and that these excessive fees and costs demonstrated imprudence and disloyalty. Defendants brought a motion to dismiss. The court ruled that plaintiffs’ allegations “stop short of crossing the threshold from possible to probable.” The court found that the plan’s recordkeeping fees trended downward for the period at issue which pointed in the direction of prudence, not imprudence. The court ruled that plaintiffs’ claims for failure to monitor could not stand without a viable claim for breach of fiduciary duty. The court granted the motion to dismiss with leave to amend. Continue Reading Your ERISA Watch – Week of August 11, 2021