A federal district court in New York recently granted Omnicom Group Inc.’s (“Omnicom’s”) motion to dismiss, for lack of Article III standing, claims challenging the offering of investment options in Omnicom’s 401(k) plan in which the plaintiff participants did not invest. The court denied Omnicom’s motion to dismiss, however, with respect to the remainder of
Article III
Fifth Circuit Holds Participants Lack Standing To Challenge Plan Investment Options
By Myron Rumeld, Tulio Chirinos & Sydney Juliano on
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal, for lack of standing, of a fiduciary breach representative action against American Airlines and its 401(k) plan investment committee. Ortiz v. American Airlines, Inc., No. 20-10817, 2021 WL 3030550 (5th Cir. July 19, 2021). As discussed in an earlier post, two former American Airlines employees brought this…
U.S. Supreme Court Holds ERISA Defined Benefit Plan Participants Without Monetary Losses Lack Article III Standing to Assert Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims
By Russell Hirschhorn & Tulio Chirinos on
Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a decision by the Eighth Circuit holding that ERISA plan participants lack Article III standing to sue for breach of fiduciary duty to recover investment losses in a defined benefit fund that was not underfunded. The Court concluded that the participants lacked a concrete stake in the dispute…
Sixth Circuit Holds Pecuniary Loss Not Required to Establish Standing In Benefit Claim
By Benjamin Flaxenburg on
The Sixth Circuit joined several other circuits in holding that a participant need not have actually incurred a financial loss in order to have standing to assert an ERISA claim for benefits under Section 502(a)(1)(B). Here, the plan participant arranged an air ambulance for his son in a non-emergent situation, but the plan refused to…