Representative Engagements

Examples of our ERISA, pension and benefits litigation-related work include representing:

• AIG in the settlement of an ERISA stock drop litigation.
• Alaska Retirement Management (ARM) Board in a groundbreaking $500 million settlement of malpractice litigation brought by pension plans for public employees in the State of Alaska against the plan’s former actuary, Mercer (U.S.), a unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos. The ARM Board claimed that Mercer miscalculated the contributions needed to fund Alaska’s two largest pension plans, the Public Employees Retirement System and the Teachers Retirement System, contributing at least $1.8 billion to Alaska’s pension shortfall.
• Bank One (now JPMorgan Chase) in the successful resolution of proceedings brought by various state and federal regulators as well as securities class action, ERISA class action and derivative fund lawsuits arising out of allegations of mutual fund market timing.
• The Bank of New York Mellon in a novel putative class action by plan participants alleging ERISA violations in relation to the Bank’s role as depositary bank for ADRs.
• Bear Stearns in the dismissal of an ERISA stock drop class action alleging that the trustees of the Bear Stearns ESOP violated their fiduciary duties by failing to sell Bear Stearns stock held by the plan prior to the acquisition of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan.
• Citigroup:
  • in obtaining the dismissal of an ERISA stock drop action alleging that Citigroup 401(k) plan fiduciaries violated their fiduciary duties by failing to limit plan participants’ ability to invest in Citigroup stock. The dismissal was affirmed on appeal —the first time the Second Circuit Court of Appeals addressed a series of important issues raised by ERISA stock drop cases;
  • in obtaining the dismissal of a multibillion-dollar ERISA stock drop action alleging that Citigroup 401(k) plan fiduciaries violated their fiduciary duties by failing to limit plan participants’ ability to invest in Citigroup stock. The dismissal was affirmed by the Second Circuit in an opinion that became the leading authority in the Second Circuit governing pleading standards for ERISA stock drop claims. Plaintiffs’ petition for a writ of certiorari was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016; and
  • as lead appellate counsel, in obtaining dismissal in the Second Circuit reversing summary judgment of a class action alleging that Citigroup’s cash-balance plan with over 100,000 participants violated ERISA minimum benefit accrual rules and notice requirements.
• Conexant, a semiconductor manufacturer, in the successful defense of an ERISA suit and securities fraud class action challenging disclosures related to the integration of an acquisition.
• Dave & Busters, a restaurant and entertainment company, in the settlement of an ERISA class action brought by a putative class of employees claiming that Dave & Buster’s violated ERISA Section 510 by allegedly reducing employee hours to interfere with their access to health benefits under the Affordable Care Act.
• DST Systems, a subsidiary of leading financial services software provider SS&C Technologies, in the global settlement of highly complex ERISA matters nationally, involving a mandatory class action, a government enforcement action by the Department of Labor, and dozens of individual actions, both in federal court and in over 500 arbitrations, brought by current and former DST employees alleging breaches of fiduciary duty and other ERISA violations related to the management of DST’s 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan.
• Exxon Mobil Corporation and the trustees of its retirement plan in the dismissal, with prejudice, of unprecedented putative ERISA claims brought in connection with the future impacts of climate change brought by participants in and beneficiaries of ExxonMobil’s Savings Plan who invested in the company’s stock.
• JPMorgan Bank in a series of class actions asserting violations of fiduciary duties owed to ERISA plans in connection with the investment of cash collateral generated in JPMorgan Bank’s securities lending programs.
• Merck & Co.:
  • and Schering-Plough in the settlement of claims of breach of fiduciary duty and ERISA violations by investors in connection with stock prices falling relating to study results that were released with regards to the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin; and
  • in the successful settlement of ERISA, securities and derivative claims related to Merck’s release, and ultimate withdrawal, of the pain medication Vioxx.
• Morgan Stanley Investment Management in the dismissal of claims of a breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA asserted by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, in a detailed decision that elucidates the standards for pleading a claim for violation of ERISA.
• Certain current and former officers and employees of the Kraft Heinz Company and its Employee Benefits Administration Board in securing the dismissal of a putative ERISA class action brought by current and former employees who were participants in and beneficiaries of the Kraft Heinz savings plan alleging that the company’s savings plan trustees breached their duty of prudence under ERISA by allowing plan participants and beneficiaries to continue investing in Kraft Heinz stock while knowing that its price was artificially inflated. Plaintiffs alleged that the plan’s trustees should have tried to persuade company officers to disclose earlier that certain of the company’s goodwill and intangible assets had become impaired. Plaintiffs further alleged that certain Kraft Heinz officers breached their duty to monitor the trustees by not removing them and appointing new trustees.