The Seventh Circuit recently affirmed the trial court victory for GreatBanc Trust Company and Segerdahl Corporation’s (sg360°) Board members in the ESOP case, Rush v. GreatBanc Trust Co., et. al, ___ F. 4th __, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 21177 (7th Cir. July 17, 2026). In Rush, the former vice president of
Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)
Second Circuit Weighs in Against ERISA Arbitration
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.…
Third Circuit Rejects Mandatory Arbitration Clause in ESOP
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…
Seventh Circuit Revives State Law Claims Against Executives Acting As “Dual-Hat” Fiduciaries
By Hardev S. Chhokar & Howard Shapiro on
Posted in Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), ERISA
The Seventh Circuit ruled recently that ERISA does not preempt certain state law claims against directors and officers because ERISA’s text and purpose contemplate parallel corporate state-law liability against executives who act as “dual hat” fiduciaries.
In Halperin v. Richards, Plaintiffs were co-trustees of a Chapter 11 liquidating trust for Appvion, a paper company that…