Circuit split

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Earlier this year, ERISA fiduciary breach defendant Parker-Hannifin filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court that, if granted, could settle a circuit split created by the Sixth Circuit regarding the correct pleading standard for ERISA class actions challenging defined contribution plan investment performance. Johnson v. Parker-Hannifin, 122…

On April 17, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, resolved a circuit split and established a plaintiff-friendly pleading standard for ERISA prohibited transaction claims in Cunningham v. Cornell University, No. 23-1007.

Background

The plaintiffs in Cunningham accused Cornell’s retirement plans of engaging in prohibited transactions by paying excessive fees for recordkeeping…

Recently, the Second Circuit became the latest circuit refusing to enforce individual arbitration of an ERISA class action, joining the Third, Seventh, and Tenth Circuits. The Ninth Circuit, by contrast, has held that class action ERISA claims brought on behalf of plans are subject to individual arbitration, with relief limited to the individual plaintiff’s claims.…

The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear Rose v. PSA Airlines, Inc., Case No. 23-734, which raised the question of whether a remedy known as “surcharge” falls under ERISA’s equitable remedies provision.  Surcharge, in simple terms, resembles monetary damages.  Historically, courts used it to address losses resulting from a trustee’s breach of duty…

The Third Circuit refused to enforce a mandatory arbitration clause with a class action waiver in an ESOP, finding that the class action waiver deprived participants of statutory rights. The ESOP plan added the clause at issue in 2017. When plaintiffs filed a putative class action in 2019 asserting fiduciary breach and prohibited transaction claims…