Schlichter Bogard & Denton Achieves $24 Million Settlement on Behalf of BB&T Employees in 401(k) Excessive Fee Case
December 06 2018 - 11:34AM
Business Wire
Settlement includes non-monetary relief for
participants, with key plan improvements
After over three years of litigation, on November 30, 2018,
participants in the BB&T Bank 401(k) plan filed a motion
for preliminary settlement approval with the U.S. District Court
for the Middle District of North Carolina. Settlement terms
include the creation of a $24 million settlement fund for the
plaintiffs, as well as non-monetary relief.
In the case, Robert Sims, et al v. BB&T
Corporation, et al., employees and retirees of BB&T, who
were represented by law firms Schlichter Bogard & Denton LLP,
Nichols Kaster, PLLP and Puryear & Lingle, PLLC, sued for
alleged breach of fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act (ERISA).
“We are pleased to have achieved this important settlement for
the employees and retirees of BB&T and look forward to
receiving the court’s approval,” said Jerry Schlichter, managing
partner of Schlichter Bogard & Denton, attorneys for the
plaintiffs. “In addition to the financial terms, this settlement
includes significant non-monetary improvements to the plan going
forward, which will benefit plan participants for years to
come.”
As a part of the settlement, BB&T agreed to, among
other reforms, engage a consulting firm to conduct a request for
proposal for investment consulting firms that are unaffiliated with
BB&T and an independent consultant to provide consulting
services to the plan; BB&T will also conduct a request for
proposal for recordkeeping services. Going
forward, during the two-year period following final approval
of the settlement BB&T will rebate to plan participants any
12b-1 fees, sub-ta fees, or other monetary compensation that any
mutual fund company pays or extends to the plan’s recordkeeper
based on the plan’s investments. In the
settlement, BB&T admitted no wrongdoing or
liability.
In the initial complaint, filed on September 4, 2015 in the
Court of Judge Catherine C. Eagles, plaintiffs claimed
that BB&T selected and retained in the plan high cost
and poor performing investments, incurred unreasonable
administrative expenses, engaged in prohibited transactions with
both fiduciaries and parties in interest, and failed to monitor and
remedy the breaches of other plan fiduciaries.
Schlichter Bogard & Denton, based in St. Louis, MO,
pioneered excessive fee 401(k) and 403(b) litigation on behalf of
employees and retirees. Since 2006, the firm has filed over 30 such
complaints and secured 14 settlements on behalf of employees. In
2009, the firm won the first full trial of a 401(k) excessive fee
case against ABB. The firm’s Tibble v. Edison is the
first and only 401(k) excessive fee case to be argued in the
Supreme Court. On May 18, 2015, the firm won a landmark unanimous
9-0 decision in which both the AARP and the Solicitor General wrote
supporting briefs for the employees.
Jerry Schlichter and his firm have been referred to by federal
judges as “preeminent” in the field of 401(k) fee litigation; as
demonstrating “extraordinary skill and determination”; as making “a
significant, national contribution,” having “educated plan
administrators, the Department of Labor, [and] the courts” about
fees and fiduciary obligations; and has been referred to by federal
judges as a “private attorney general,” causing fees to come down
by over $2 billion annually in the entire 401(k) industry.
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Jerry Schlichter800-873-5297sbd@uselaws.com