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Category Archives: SCOTUS
A Question of Asymmetry and Fundamental Fairness: Observations and Comments from the Oral Arguments in Cunningham v. Cornell University
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA® Listening to the recent oral arguments before SCOTUS in the Cunningham v. Cornell University case, I was both disappointed and encouraged by the questions and comments of some of the Justices. After … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k litigation, 401k risk management, 401klitigation, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary risk management, fiduciarylitigation, pension plans, retirement plans, risk management, SCOTUS
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, defined contribution, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary risk management, plan sponsors, retirement plans
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2025 Fiduciary Litigation: Common Law + Common Sense?
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA® Looking at the ERISA litigation landscape for 2025, I think there are three clear-cut cases that may shape the future of ERISA litigation and ERISA itself: the ongoing litigation in the Fifth … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 401k litigation, 401k plan design, 401k plans, 401k risk management, 401klitigation, Active Management Value Ratio, AMVR, Annuities, consumer protection, cost efficient, cost-efficiency, defined contribution, DOL fiduciary rule, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary risk management, fiduciarylitigation, Mutual funds, pension plans, plan advisers, plan sponsors, prudence, retirement plans, risk management, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, Active Management Value Ratio, fiduciary, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary litigation, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibilities, fiduciary risk management, fiduciaryliability, retirement plans
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Fudamental Unfairness: Sixth Circuit Decision Addresses the Premature Dismissal of ERISA Actions
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA® Does the recent Sixth Circuit decision in Johnson v. Parker-Hannifin Corp.1 (Parker-Hannifin) indicate a posssible 2025 trend in fiduciary litigation in favor of plan participants? Parker-Hannifin revisits the issue of pleading plausibility … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k litigation, 401k plan design, 401k plans, 401k risk management, cost consciousness, cost-efficiency, Cost_Efficiency, defined contribution, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary risk management, fiduciary standard, investments, Mutual funds, pension plans, plan sponsors, prudence, retirement plans, SCOTUS
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, compliance, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, investorprotection, law, pension plans, pension-law, pensions, retirement plans
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Deja Vu All Over Again?: Is the Annuity Industry Serving a Second Round of Annuity Misrepresentations Kool-Aid?
Bradley Campbell of Faegre Drinker recently commented on the unusual strength of the language in the Fifth Circuit’s “Memorandum Opinion and Order” staying the DOL’s Retirement Security Rule.1 Given distristrict court Chief Judge Lynn’s earlier well-reasoned analysis and opinion in … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k litigation, 401k plan design, 401k risk management, Annuities, best interest, compliance, Conflicts of Interest, consumer protection, DOL, DOL fiduciary rule, DOL fiduciary standard, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, fiduciary prudence, investment advisers, investments, IRA, pension plans, plan advisers, plan sponsors, retirement plans, SCOTUS
Tagged Annuities, compliance, Conflicts of Interest, ERISA litigation, fiduciary, fiduciary law, Fiduciary litigation, retirement plans, Retirement Security Rule, wealth management
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Bugielski v. AT&T Services, Inc.: Another Key Case Toward Defining the Future of 401(k) Litigation
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA® SCOTUS may soon have yet another ERISA-related case to review. AT&T Services, Inc. recently petitioned SCOTUS for a writ of certiorari to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Bugielski v. AT&T Services, … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k litigation, 401k plans, 401k risk management, 403b, compliance, defined contribution, DOL, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary risk management, fiduciary standard, pension plans, plan advisers, plan sponsors, prohibited transactions, retirement plans, SCOTUS
Tagged 401k compliance, 401k litigation, 401k plans, defined contribution, ERISA compliance, ERISA litigation, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciarylitigation, plan sponsors
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A Curious Paradox: “Meaningful Benchmarks,” Fiduciary Prudence, and the Active Management Value Ratio
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA® Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing has happened.Winston Churchill Some courts continue to attempt to justify premature dismissals of … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 401k litigation, 401k plan design, 401k plans, 401k risk management, 403b, 404c, 404c compliance, Active Management Value Ratio, AMVR, best interest, closet index funds, compliance, consumer protection, cost consciousness, cost-efficiency, defined contribution, DOL, ERISA, ERISA litigation, evidence based investing, fiduciary, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary risk management, fiduciary standard, investments, Mutual funds, pension plans, plan advisers, plan sponsors, prudence, retirement plans, risk management, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, trust realtionships, wealth management, wealth preservation
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, 404c compliance, compliance, defined contribution, ERISA, fiducairy risk management, fiduciary, fiduciary duty, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary loyalty, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary risk management, fiduciarylitigation, investment advisers, plansponsors, retirement plans
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“Knew or Should Have Known: Annuities, Plan Sponsors, and Fiduciary Law – Part 2
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA® In Part 1 of “Knew or Should Have Known”: Annuities, Plan Sponsors, and Fiduciary Law,” I examined the basic structure of fiduciary law and some of the potential fiduciary liability issues posed … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 401k litigation, 401k plan design, 401k plans, 401k risk management, 403b, 404c, 404c compliance, Active Management Value Ratio, Annuities, compliance, cost consciousness, cost efficient, cost-efficiency, Cost_Efficiency, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary risk management, fiduciary standard, investment advisers, investments, Mutual funds, pension plans, plan advisers, plan sponsors, prudence, retirement plans, risk management, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, wealth management
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, 401klitigation, 404c compliance, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary loyalty, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibilities, fiduciarylitigation, investment advisers, retirement plans, risk management
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3Q 2023 AMVR “Cheat Sheets”: Fiduciary Law Benchmarks That Really Matter
The six funds shown are six of the leading non-index funds that are consistently offered in U.S. domestic defined contribution plans. My development of the Active Management Value Ratio (AMVR) metric was originally based on the work of Nobel laureate … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k litigation, 401k plan design, 401k plans, 401k risk management, 403b, Active Management Value Ratio, AMVR, closet index funds, consumer protection, cost consciousness, cost efficient, cost-efficiency, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary risk management, investments, Mutual funds, pension plans, plan advisers, plan sponsors, prudence, retirement plans, risk management, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, 401k fiduciary, 401k litigation, 401klitigation, compliance, ERISA, fiducairy risk management, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibilities, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary risk management, fiduciaryliability, fiduciarylitigation, fiduciaryprudence, fiduciaryriskmanagement, plan sponsor, plan sponsors, retirement plans
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Making ERISA Meaningful: Common Sense, “Humble Arithmetic,” SCOTUS, and the Matney Case
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals finally issued its much-anticipated decision in Matney v. Briggs Gold of North America1 (Matney). As expected, the Court upheld the district court’s dismissal of the case. The good news is that the Tenth Circuit’s … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 401k litigation, 401k plan design, 401k plans, 401k risk management, 403b, Active Management Value Ratio, compliance, cost consciousness, cost efficient, cost-efficiency, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary risk management, fiduciary standard, investments, Mutual funds, pension plans, plan advisers, plan sponsors, prudence, risk management, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, 401k litigation, 401k plans, 401k risk management, compliance, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary duty, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, plansponsor, retirement plans
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Is the Exxon Model the Future of ERISA Fiduciary Prudence?
By James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP Board Emeritus™, AWMA® “Living is easy with eyes closedMisunderstanding all you see…” “Strawberry Fields Forever” – The Beatles In my role as a fiduciary risk management counsel, I constantly see plan sponsors and … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 401k plan design, 401k risk management, 403b, Active Management Value Ratio, AMVR, compliance, consumer protection, cost consciousness, cost efficient, cost-efficiency, ERISA, ERISA litigation, evidence based investing, fiduciary, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary risk management, fiduciary standard, investment advisers, investments, Mutual funds, pension plans, plan advisers, plan sponsors, prudence, retirement plans, risk management, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, 404c compliance, compliance, ERISA, ERISA liability, ERISA litigation, ERISAlitigation, fiducairy risk management, fiduciary, fiduciary duty, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibilities, fiduciary responsibility, investment advisers, retirement plans
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