$55 million - Tussey v. ABB

The seminal 401(k) excessive fee case, filed in 2006, finally settled in 2019 after nearly 13 years of litigation, 2 trips to the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and 2 denied petitions for review by the Supreme Court.

The $55 million settlement is one of the largest in a growing corpus of ERISA excessive fee class-action suits. About $20.8 million went to the plaintiffs’ attorneys. The three named class representatives were each awarded $25,000.

Plaintiffs alleged plan fiduciaries failed to act in the plan’s best interest when it mapped funds from the Vanguard Wellington fund to the Fidelity Freedom Fund target-date series, along with claims they failed to monitor revenue-sharing agreements, and used some of that revenue to pay for services that were not related to the plan. (Photo of Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, St. Louis, MO: Google.)

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)

$18.1 million - Tracey v. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Fiduciaries to MIT’s 401(k) plan—the university did not have a 403(b) plan—were sued for allegedly paying $15.8 million in excessive record-keeping fees to Fidelity over several years, and losing plan participants $30 million over high-cost investments.

The case involved a dramatic angle, at least within the realm of ERISA claims. Attorneys for the participants introduced evidence alleging MIT hired Fidelity because of the University’s relationship with Abigail Johnson, Fidelity’s CEO, and her role as a benefactor to the University.

The $18.1 million settlement was finalized last month. Plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and expenses of $6.5 million will be paid from the general settlement fund. (Photo of U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston.)

$21.9 million - Moreno v. Deutsche Bank

The parties settled last year, on the eve of going to trial, as is often the case in ERISA settlements.

Earlier in 2019, a judge in the Southern District of New York signed off on the $21.9 million settlement, $7.42 million of which went to plaintiffs’ attorneys. (Photo of Southern District of New York Daniel Patrick Moynihan U. S. Courthouse: Rick Kopstein/ALM)

$23.65 million - Bell v. Anthem

Filed in 2015, the case is notable for the fact that the health insurer’s retirement plan provider was Vanguard, which of course carries a reputation for providing low-cost investment funds.

Apparently they were not low enough. Along with excessive record-keeping fees, the plaintiffs alleged less expensive share classes of the Vanguard funds offered in the plan were available.

The parties settled for $23.65 million. (Photo of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

$24 million - Sims v. BB&T Corp.

Originally filed in 2015, the suit is among a subset of ERISA excessive fee claims brought against banks and financial institutions claiming the use of proprietary funds in their own retirement plans amounts to self-dealing.

The parties settled for $24 million. Nearly $8.8 million went to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, reflecting the typical one-third that is paid out from money recovered to the plan participants in ERISA claims.

Court documents show plaintiffs attorneys spent more than 16,000 attorney hours on the case. The most experienced attorneys billed $1,060 an hour. (Photo of Middle District of North Carolina Courthouse: Google.)

$55 million - Tussey v. ABB

The seminal 401(k) excessive fee case, filed in 2006, finally settled in 2019 after nearly 13 years of litigation, 2 trips to the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and 2 denied petitions for review by the Supreme Court.

The $55 million settlement is one of the largest in a growing corpus of ERISA excessive fee class-action suits. About $20.8 million went to the plaintiffs’ attorneys. The three named class representatives were each awarded $25,000.

Plaintiffs alleged plan fiduciaries failed to act in the plan’s best interest when it mapped funds from the Vanguard Wellington fund to the Fidelity Freedom Fund target-date series, along with claims they failed to monitor revenue-sharing agreements, and used some of that revenue to pay for services that were not related to the plan. (Photo of Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, St. Louis, MO: Google.)