The Sixth Circuit recently reversed a district court’s dismissal, and order requiring arbitration of, a proposed class action alleging fiduciary breaches in connection with the Kellogg Company 401(k) plan. Fleming v. Kellogg Co., 2024 WL 4534677 (6th Cir. Oct. 21, 2024). In so ruling, the Sixth Circuit added to the list of recent decisions
Arbitration
In Split Ruling Second Circuit Declines to Compel Arbitration of ERISA Plan Claims
By Russell Hirschhorn & Daniel Wesson on
They say that April showers bring May flowers, but there were no flowers for ERISA plan sponsors and fiduciaries on May 1 when the Second Circuit held, in a ruling that provoked a vigorous dissenting opinion, that an ERISA plan’s arbitration provision was not enforceable because it required the plan participant to forgo his statutory…
S.D.N.Y. Voids ERISA Plan’s Arbitration Provision
By Joseph Clark & Daniel Wesson on
A district court in New York recently refused to enforce an arbitration provision in an ERISA fiduciary breach lawsuit challenging the valuation of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (“ESOP”). The ruling in Lloyd v. Argent, No. 22-cv-4129, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 219964 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 6, 2022), exposes the continued uncertainty as to the enforceability…
Sixth Circuit Rejects Arbitration for Proposed Fiduciary Breach Class Action
By Myron Rumeld, Tulio Chirinos & Sydney Juliano on
The Sixth Circuit, in a matter of first impression for that Circuit, held an arbitration clause contained in an individual employment agreement did not apply to ERISA fiduciary breach claims brought on behalf of a defined contribution plan. The case is Hawkins et al. v. Cintas Corp., No. 21-2156, __ F.4th __, 2022 WL…