ERISA Litigation

Your ERISA litigation and compliance needs are diverse. A holistic strategy positions you for the best results for your company, its executives, board of directors, and trustees. Not just any ERISA practice can provide the full range of services you may need.

Alston & Bird is different. Unlike most ERISA practices, the lawyers on our team are both ERISA compliance practitioners and experienced trial lawyers.

We are the only major law firm in the country to have an attorney within its ERISA litigation group who is also a fellow of the Society of Actuaries. This uniquely positions us to represent clients facing litigation over actuarial equivalence issues. We integrate legal analysis with an understanding of the underlying actuarial, cost, funding, administration, and benefit design considerations, providing an edge in actuarial malpractice litigation, pension benefit litigation, and fiduciary and compliance audits.

Our team includes former prosecutors and government officials with strong relationships with the DOL, PBGC, and IRS. This inside perspective can benefit clients under investigation by the DOL or DOJ regarding civil and/or criminal violations of ERISA. Alston & Bird was named “Law Firm of the Year” in Litigation—ERISA in 2018 by U.S. News - Best Law Firms for the second time in three years, a distinction given annually to a single outstanding firm in each practice area.

We walk you through your most complicated ERISA litigation. Our track record in employer stock litigation is second to none, having handled more than 20 of these cases nationwide.

• Camera v. Dell Inc. et al. (United States District Court for the Western District of Texas). We recently represented Dell, and members of its board of directors and Benefits Administration Committee, in a putative class action alleging various breaches of fiduciary duty arising from Dell’s recent transaction to take the company private. We prevailed on a motion to dismiss.
• Scott et al. v. Williams et al. (Supreme Court of Florida). We recently represented the governor and the state, both at trial and the appeal to the Supreme Court, in this case in which plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of Florida’s 2011 pension reform legislation. The Supreme Court found for our clients that the legislation is constitutional. This case impacts the pensions of more than 500,000 state and municipal employees and saves billions of dollars in the state budget over many years.
• In re American International Group, Inc. Securities Litigation (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York). We represent certain retirement plans sponsored by AIG and their independent fiduciary, Evercore Trust Company, in connection with securities class action settlements with AIG and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The settlement administrator has determined that the plans are ineligible to be members of the settlement class on the basis that they are alleged to be “affiliates” of AIG. The settlement administrator has also determined that even if the plans were not “affiliates” of AIG, they would only be able to submit trust-level, rather than participant-level, transactions of AIG stock. We are challenging both of those determinations.
• In re Nokia, Inc. ERISA Litigation (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York; United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit). We won a motion to dismiss various claims brought by participants in the Nokia Retirement Savings and Investment Plan. The plaintiffs alleged that Nokia, Inc., and other Nokia, Inc., directors and officials engaged in breaches of the fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty; the duty to communicate complete and accurate information to plan participants and beneficiaries; the duty to monitor; and co-fiduciary liability. The dismissal was recently affirmed on appeal by the Second Circuit.
• Laue v. Sterling Savings Bank/Sterling Financial Corp. (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington). We recently represented Sterling Savings Bank and individual defendants in a putative class action alleging that defendants breached fiduciary duties under ERISA by failing to sell company stock when the securities purportedly became an imprudent investment option. In addition, we represented the bank, the board and the plan’s fiduciaries in connection with a concurrent investigation by the Department of Labor regarding the actions of the fiduciaries of the plan with respect to monitoring and considering the prudence of investment in company stock. The litigation was settled on favorable terms, and we successfully convinced the Department of Labor to conclude its investigation without penalty.
• Cinotto v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia; United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit). We represented Delta in this challenge to the freezing of a defined benefit plan. The district court dismissed the case, finding no improper cut-back of benefits. The dismissal was recently affirmed on appeal by the Eleventh Circuit.