401(k) Retirement Benefit Plan Litigation: Recent Cases and Issues for Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries

With 17 years of experience as a labor and employment litigator with Seyfarth Shaw, Ms. Dolph is an advisor to clients in the airline, retail, healthcare and manufacturing industries. Her practice focuses on advice and counsel and innovative litigation involving complex procedural defenses, including preemption of state law claims under ERISA, Railway Labor Act, Airline Deregulation Act, Federal Aviation Act, and the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance Act (SGLIA); Article III and statutory standing; statute of limitations; and administrative exhaustion requirements, among others; Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) claims, prevailing as lead counsel in the first BIPA case to be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; whistleblower claims under state law, AIR21, Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley; discrimination claims in state and federal jurisdictions across the country, including under Title VII, ADA, Section 1981, and the ADEA, and their state law counterparts, including systemic actions brought by the EEOC; ERISA single, multi-plaintiff and class action matters involving denial of health, disability, life, pension and 401(k) benefits, including defense of high profile “stock drop,” retiree medical and 401(k fee class actions.

Mr. Riffee is a partner in Goodwin’s Financial Industry group and specializes in ERISA Litigation and Consumer Financial Services Enforcement and Litigation. His practice focuses on ERISA and Consumer Financial Services litigation, class actions, and counseling and representing banks and financial institutions in government investigations and enforcement actions. Mr. Riffee regularly litigates class actions under ERISA, and counsels ERISA-covered retirement plan sponsors and service providers concerning ERISA-related matters. He also counsels and represents financial services companies in enforcement and litigation matters concerning an array of financial services and products, including mortgages, card, and various other lending and investment products.

Mr. Rudolph represents plan sponsors, trustees, and other fiduciaries in a wide range of ERISA and employee benefit cases, including complex ERISA class actions involving 401(k) and 403(b) defined contribution plans, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), traditional defined benefit pension plans, multiemployer “Taft-Hartley” plans, and executive compensation arrangements. In addition to his litigation practice, he represents plan sponsors and fiduciaries in investigations by the US Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service, and Securities and Exchange Commission, and advises fiduciaries on best practices and risk mitigation. Mr. Rudolph frequently speaks and writes on employee benefits matters. He serves as an advisory board member of The ESOP Association’s Legislative and Regulatory Committee, vice-chair of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, and co-editor of the ABA TIPS Newsletter.