Employee Benefits / ERISA
Relentless advocates protecting
retirement savings.
Hardworking people should enjoy the full fruits of their retirement benefits. When corporate mismanagement interferes, we step in.
Overview
Our nationally acclaimed attorneys represent the interests of employees, retirees, and plan participants or beneficiaries in their pursuit of economic justice. Through often cutting-edge class actions, we address the mismanagement of employee retirement benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), including:
- 401(k) plans, retirement savings plans that allows employees to contribute a portion of their wages to an individual account
- Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), retirement plans that allows employees to own part or all of a company
- Traditional pension plans
We also address mismanagement issues of other types of health and employee benefit plans.
Our nationally recognized team has led some of the most significant ERISA-related litigation in recent U.S. history, including up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Precedent-setting decisions include:
- Defeating Motion to Compel Arbitration: Enforceability of arbitration clauses is a crucial issue for workers, which can entirely shift the dynamics of a case and their pursuit of economic justice. We have achieved precedent-setting decisions before the Third, Seventh, and Tenth Circuits – all addressing lower court rulings denying Defendants’ motions to compel arbitration under ERISA. On October 10, 2023, the United States Supreme Court declined to review our 10th Circuit win in Harrison v. Envision Management Holding, Inc. Boards of Directors, et al. (D. Col.). To date, Cohen Milstein has won decisions striking down arbitration and class waivers in three appellate courts and five district courts.
- In re Beacon Association Litigation: Acted as ERISA Counsel for a certified class which settled their claims for $219 million, representing 70% of the Class members’ out-of-pocket losses. The judge praised the settlement, describing the outcome as “extraordinary” and the praising the “hard work” done by plaintiffs’ counsel, including Cohen Milstein.
We also have the unique capability to represent employees who purchased overvalued employer stock through employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement plans, given our extensive experience with securities fraud and investor protection litigation. While employees may pursue claims under securities fraud laws, ERISA provides additional rights and remedies to recover losses in 401(k) retirement plans.
Building on the experience of our colleagues in the Securities Litigation and Investor Protection practice area, we also represent employees who purchased overvalued employer stock through employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement plans. In these cases, we represent employees alleging breach of fiduciary duties to hold employers and plan fiduciaries accountable for misrepresentations which artificially inflated the value of the employer stock purchased through their 401(k) plans. While these employees may also have claims under the securities laws, ERISA provides employees with significant additional rights and remedies to recover losses in employer stock lost through a 401(k) retirement plan.
Current Cases
Wells Fargo Health Plan Litigation
Navarro, et al. v. Wells Fargo & Co. (D. Minn.): Cohen Milstein is representing members of the Wells Fargo & Company Health Plan in a putative class action against Wells Fargo and senior executives for mismanaging Wells Fargo’s prescription-drug benefits program. Plaintiffs allege that such breaches of fiduciary duties and prohibited transactions have cost their ERISA plan and their employees millions of dollars in the form of higher payments for prescription drugs, higher premiums, higher out-of-pocket costs, and lower wages or limited wage growth.
Johnson & Johnson Prescription Drug Litigation
Lewandowski v. Johnson and Johnson (D.N.J.): Cohen Milstein represents participants in Johnson & Johnson’s Group Health Benefits Plan in a putative ERISA class action, accusing the pharmaceutical giant of mismanaging its own health plans’ prescription drug program, costing employees millions of dollars in the form of higher payments for prescription drugs, higher out-of-pocket costs and co-pays, and, ultimately, lower wages in violation of ERISA.
B-K Lighting Inc. ESOP Litigation
Chea v. Lite Star ESOP Committee, et al. (E.D. Cal.): Cohen Milstein is representing participants in the Lite Star employee stock option plan in a putative ERISA class action. Plaintiff alleges that Prudent Fiduciary Services and Miguel Paredes, on behalf of the Lite Star ESOP, improperly negotiated and purchased 100% of B-K Lighting stock from Douglas W. Hagen, the chairman of B-K Lighting, for over $25 million, an overly inflated price, in violation of ERISA. Plaintiff also claims that the company’s board of directors and members of the ESOP Committee breached their fiduciary duties to the ESOP and that Prudent Fiduciary Services and Miguel Parades have permitted the Hagen Family defendants to continue to operate B-K Lighting as their personal piggy bank.
Past Cases
New York Life Insurance Company 401(k) Litigation
Krohnengold v. New York Life Insurance Company (S.D.N.Y.): Cohen Milstein represented employees and agents of New York Life Insurance in this certified class action against New York Life for allegedly mismanaging its 401(k) and engaging in corporate self-dealing and the prohibited transfer of employees’ retirement assets. Plaintiffs claim that New York Life impermissibly invested participants investments into a Fixed Dollar Account by default and improperly favored and included its own in-house investment funds in its plans, thereby earning New York Life and its affiliates windfall profits. On July 18, 2024, the Court granted final approval of a $19 million settlement – approximately 25% of the alleged losses.
BlackRock 401(k) Retirement Plan Litigation
Baird v. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. et al. (N.D. Cal.): Cohen Milstein successfully settled this certified class action, in which plaintiffs alleged that the BlackRock 401(k) plan administrators engaged in corporate self-dealing—restricting plan options to BlackRock’s own proprietary funds, and in many cases failing to provide the lowest cost versions of those funds. On November 3, 2021, the Court granted final approval of a $9.65 million settlement.
World Travel ESOP Litigation
Ahrendsen et al. v. Prudent Fiduciary Services. et al. (E.D. Pa.): Cohen Milstein represented a certified class of employee stock option plan participants and beneficiaries who allege that the founders of World Travel and the ESOP trustees created the ESOP and then sold 100% of the employees World Travel stock to the ESOP at an above-market price, saddling it with over $200 million in debt. On June 22, 2023, the Court granted plaintiffs unopposed motion for class certification and final approval of a $8.7 million settlement.