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Excessive Fee Settlements Continue
Last Updated: December 10, 2015
November has already been a busy month in the world of retirement plan excessive fee litigation settlements. On November 5th came the announcement that the Spano v. Boeing excessive fee settlement would result in a $57 million payout by Boeing. This case was one of the original excessive fee lawsuits filed in 2006, and the settlement was announced the day before the case was set to go to trial.[1]
Then came the $32 million Kruger v. Novant Health settlement which will be paid by Novant Health, Inc. Participants in this case alleged that Novant Health allowed excessive fees to be paid to plan service providers, and allowed expensive mutual fund share classes to be included as investment options. The case settled early, even before a class certification for the class action.[2]
Both of these cases are part of a continuing trend in the retirement planning industry, and the approximately $30 million in attorney’s fees that these two cases have produced for a single law firm (Schlichter, Bogard, & Denton out of St. Louis) are a strong indication that this type of targeting of retirement plan sponsors with excessive fee lawsuits will not being going away.
If you have concerns about potential liability from your retirement plan, contact our ERISA Services TeamTeam today.
