In 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule expanding the "investment advice fiduciary" definition under ERISA and modified the complex of prohibited transaction exemptions for investment activities as a result of the expanded definition. The new rule is scheduled to be implemented starting on April 10, 2017.
There are many opponents to the new rule, who argue that it is one of the most costly, burdensome regulations to be implemented. Joe Wilson, a Republican Congressman from South Carolina, has recently introduced the Protecting American Families ...
On April 6, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") issued its final rule expanding the definition of the "investment advice fiduciary" under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") and modifying the exemptions for investment activities. The new rule will be phased in starting in April 2017, and it is anticipated to draw battles over its expansion of the circumstances under which providing investment advice could give rise to a fiduciary duty. Specifically, by expanding the definition of a fiduciary, the rule casts a wide net in assigning fiduciary ...
The U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") recently heard public comment[1] to its proposed regulatory changes implementing a fiduciary duty on any individual receiving compensation for advice tailored to a plan sponsor, participant or individual retirement account owner if that advice seeks to assist the recipient in retirement planning decisions.[2] Currently, a customer does not have a specific private right of action for a breach of contract or a breach of fiduciary duty toward the investment selections within an ERISA plan or an individual retirement account. Put another way ...
The United States Supreme Court clarified the duty of prudence that employee stock ownership plan fiduciaries owe to plan participants in its June 25, 2014 decision Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer 134 S.Ct. 2459 (U.S. 2014). The "presumption of prudence" no longer exists and employee stock ownership plan fiduciaries are subject to the same standard of prudence and liability as any ERISA fiduciary, aside from the duty to diversify. The United States Supreme Court addressed the "presumption of prudence" for employee stock ownership plan ("ESOP") fiduciaries. ESOPs are a type of ...
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court released its decision in Halliburton Co. v. Erica B. John Fund, Inc., (U.S., No. 13-317)( Halliburton II), and for a second time vacated a decision by the Fifth Circuit on whether the case should proceed as a class action. The plaintiff in the Halliburton case alleges that defendants made misrepresentations that were designed to inflate Halliburton's stock price in violation of § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5. In Halliburton II, in seeking reverse the lower court's ...