As the retirement plan industry matures (along with the participants), it seems to me as a non-attorney that the scope of ERISA-related litigation has expanded. Yesterday, I wrote about a U.S. Court of Appeals that vacated a lower court decision that certified a case as a class action. Timely, in the context of other law suits being filed as class action and those in the hopper.
Now today, both Rich Bales at Workplace Prof Blog and Steve Rosenberg in his Boston ERISA and Insurance Litigation Blog report that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that will decide the extent to which, if at all, fiduciary responsibilities attach to the decision to terminate a retirement plan and the implementation of that decision. Again timely-and very important-in a business environment in which employers are terminating and freezing defined benefit pension plans. I expect that we will see more ERISA-related litigation involving significant issues such as these that will impact a large number of both plan sponsors and participants.
