Ritchie Trucking Service Inc. has reached a $1.9 million settlement in a class action suit with participants in its employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Plan participants had filed suit against Ritchie in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California after a 2018 transaction transferred company ownership to the ESOP. The plaintiffs claimed that the transaction overvalued company stock, thus causing Read More

The Trump administration’s U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Treasury, and Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that it would no longer enforce regulations requiring employer health plans to analyze and compare behavioral healthcare with physical healthcare coverage. Along with a lack of enforcement, the agencies intend to review their enforcement processes more broadly. The announcement delays a Read More

The Capital Group Companies Inc. is arguing for enforcement of an arbitration provision in its 401(k) plan on appeal before the U.S. Circuit Court for the Ninth Circuit. The company claims that the lower court erred in refusing to enforce the arbitration provision. The case is Pover v. The Capital Group Cos. Inc. et al., Case Number 24-5298, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On appeal, Capital Group is Read More

Prudential Insurance Co. of America recently filed an appellate brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, arguing that the lower federal district court correctly granted summary judgment in a class action lawsuit. Plaintiff workers have appealed the court’s decision, alleging that Prudential violated its fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by making imprudent Read More

Rentokil, a United Kingdom-based pest control company, moved to dismiss a proposed class action suit alleging it charged tobacco users more for health benefits than non-tobacco users without providing a reasonable way to avoid the surcharges. In support of its motion to dismiss, Rentokil claimed that the named plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the suit because they were ineligible for an exemption from the Read More

Bed Bath & Beyond’s 401(k) committee has obtained preliminary court approval of its $1.95 million settlement of a class action lawsuit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The plan participants had accused the company of mismanaging its retirement plan, in which 2,100 employees had invested before it terminated the plan and declared bankruptcy. The parties reached a proposed settlement in Read More

A California federal district court judge has denied Monster Beverage Corp.’s motion to dismiss a proposed class action in which Monster employees claim that their employer violated its fiduciary duties in failing to properly monitor Transamerica Retirement Solutions, the third-party administrator of its employee 401(k) plan. Transamerica reportedly charged unreasonable recordkeeping fees, which are based on a fixed Read More

Former employee Brian Byrne has filed a class action lawsuit against retirement services provider Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) and its fiduciaries. The suit alleges that TIAA breached its fiduciary duties and engaged in prohibited transactions under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by charging higher fees to plan participants for the same investments than to other investors. Read More