Joe Faucher

Rash of Recent Lawsuits Focus on BlackRock Indexed Target Date Options: Even Low-Cost Funds Are Being Attacked

DYLAN RUDOLPH and JOSEPH FAUCHER, September 29, 2022  Over the past several weeks, a single law firm, Miller Shah, LLP, has filed nearly a dozen lawsuits against fiduciaries of defined contribution plans that offer the BlackRock LifePath Index target date funds (“BlackRock Funds”). The cases represent a shift in approach relative to earlier waves of […]

Arbitrability of ERISA Fiduciary Breach Cases

JOSEPH C. FAUCHER and DYLAN D. RUDOLPH, February, 2019  This article was first published by the Journal of Pension Benefits: Issues in Administration, Design, Funding, and Compliance, Autumn 2018, Vol. 26, No. 1. Although the viability of arbitration rather than litigation in ERISA fiduciary breach claims remains to be seen, there are several considerations for employers who […]

Second Circuit Breathes New Life Into Company Stock Litigation

JOSEPH C. FAUCHER and DYLAN D. RUDOLPH, February, 2019   In offering their own company stock as a plan investment option, retirement plan fiduciaries are subject to the same duty of prudence that governs the selection, retention and removal of any other investments. Before 2014, litigation against plan fiduciaries that offered their companies’ stock as an […]

ERISA Stock Drop Cases Since Dudenhoeffer: The Pleading Standard Has Been Raised

JOSEPH C. FAUCHER AND DYLAN R. RUDOLPH, DECEMBER 13, 2017   This article analyzes the Dudenhoeffer pleading standard and “stock drop” cases. It was first published by Wolters Kluwer in the Journal of Pension Benefits, Spring 2017, Vol. 24, No. 3. I. Introduction Before 2014, most of the federal Courts of Appeals applied a “presumption of prudence” when […]

ERISA Litigation Continues a Plaintiff-Friendly Trend

JOE FAUCHER, June 2016 An unmistakable trend in the world of employee benefit plan litigation is underway, and that trend is decidedly in favor of plaintiffs. The trend has manifested itself in several ways. For example, several years ago, courts routinely entered early dismissals of cases alleging that very large companies breached their fiduciary duties […]