ERISA and Employee Benefits Litigation

Schiff Hardin attorneys have successfully defended plan trustees, sponsors and administrators, investment managers, broker/dealers and other fiduciaries in all aspects of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and employee benefits litigation in state and federal courts across the country.

Among other things, we have represented plan trustees and investment managers in investigations and lawsuits brought by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL); plan sponsors in connection with putative class actions and individual claims brought by plan participants; plan fiduciaries and service providers in actions brought by plans and plan trustees; and insurers in actions brought by plans and plan participants.

We have experience defending ERISA and breach of fiduciary duty claims in connection with:

Plan investment decisions
Selection of broker/dealers and other service providers
Payment of fees and commissions to plan service providers
Stock option and restricted stock awards
Employer stock cases
Misrepresentation claims
Negotiating, amending and terminating annuity contracts
Claims related to self-dealing and prohibited transactions
Subrogation claims
Participant challenges to downsizing and severance claims

Notable representations include:

A Fortune 500 company in a class action filed by participants of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) challenging the application of the plan’s change-in-control provision in connection with a merger
A plan administrator in the WorldCom ERISA class action litigation in the Southern District of New York
An insurance and financial services provider in multi-state federal court ERISA litigation involving breach of fiduciary duty claims relating to the negotiation, administration, amendment and termination of group annuity contracts issued to various health organizations
A party accused, in civil suits, of aiding and abetting criminal ERISA violations by a plan trustee and fiduciary
A major brokerage firm in litigation brought by a union pension plan challenging the propriety of the firm's recommendations and commission charges with respect to investments it had executed on behalf of the plan
An investment management firm in connection with both civil litigation brought by a pension plan, and a DOL investigation with respect to the firm's trading methods and commission payments made to brokers that the firm had been directed to use by its clients
The trustees of a union pension plan in connection with a nationwide investigation and subsequent civil litigation commenced by the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (now known as the Employee Benefits Security Administration, or EBSA) alleging that the trustees had engaged in breaches of fiduciary duty, self-dealing and prohibited transactions in connection with a variety of allegedly imprudent investments
A plan administrator in DOL proceedings arising out of the administration of an ESOP following the restatement of company financials
An employer in multiparty litigation involving a Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) retroactive determination of multiemployer plan status

Our ERISA litigators also draw upon the experience and skills of attorneys in our Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Group who concentrate in plan drafting and ERISA compliance. Our attorneys also counsel plan sponsors seeking to appoint investment managers and advise those managers themselves.