In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that individual participants in defined contribution plans can sue to recover losses incurred by their individual plan accounts. The long anticipated decision in LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc. will affect the rights and obligations of participants, sponsors, and fiduciaries of all defined contribution plans, including 401(k), profit-sharing, and employee stock ownership plans.

Carol I. Buckman, Counsel in the New York office of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, has written an article detailing how the subprime mortgage crisis will accelerate the trend of lawsuits against 401(k) plan fiduciaries, and how these fiduciaries can reduce their risk of becoming a target.

You can read her full article here on the Employee Benefit News website.

An article from Michael T. Graham, Paul M. Hamburger, Nancy G. Ross, and John A. Litwinski details the Supreme Court decision affecting remedies available under ERISA for individual plan participants in 401(k) plans.

In LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc., the Supreme Court clarified that an individual plan participant may recover damages as a result of an ERISA fiduciary’s breach of duty even if that breach affected only that individual’s 401(k) plan account.  Prior to LaRue, courts had generally taken the view that ERISA Section 502(a)(2) provided a remedy for fiduciary breach claims only for relief sought for the plan as a whole. 

Read the whole article here on the McDermott, Will & Emery website.