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5 largest ERISA retirment plan settlements: 2019

Take a look at the 5 costliest settlements this year -- so far.

Prior to his first filing in 2006, there hadn't been a lawsuit against a defined contribution plan, attorney Jerry Schlichter told BenefitsPRO.

Now, just 13 years later, ERISA cases involving 401(k)s and other retirement plans have incurred settlements in the millions. Check out the gallery that follows, and see the article below for more details. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Large corporations have paid $6.2 billion in claims brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act since 2000, according to Good Jobs First, a non-profit advocacy that promotes corporate and government accountability. In the past two decades, 201 class-action settlements or verdicts have been issued involving Fortune 1000 companies. The largest was reached in 2014 for $480 million in a suit brought against Daimler's retiree health care plan. Two settlements against not-for-profit health care systems—Providence St. Joseph Health and Mercy Health—went for $351 million and $161 million, respectively. Those claims alleged the hospital pensions unduly rationalized under-funding pensions using ERISA's church-plan status exemption. Jerry Schlichter, founding partner of Schlichter, Bogard & Denton, the St. Louis-based law firm that has filed scores of claims against sponsors of retirement plans, recently told BenefitsPRO that there had never been a lawsuit against a defined contribution plan prior to his first filing in 2006. Take a look at the gallery above detailing the top five ERISA settlements that have (so far) been validated by courts in 2019.  
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Nick Thornton

Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.