Millions of Americans entrust their financial futures to employer-sponsored retirement plans, relying on the people who run those plans to manage them prudently and in the participants' best interests. The law demands exactly that. When the fiduciaries responsible for a 401(k) or other retirement plan put their own interests—or their employer's—ahead of the participants, the result can be the quiet erosion of retirement savings that workers spent careers building. That is not just unfair. Under federal law, it can be illegal.
At Gilman & Bedigian, we represent retirement-plan participants in ERISA and 401(k) litigation against the corporate fiduciaries who breach their duties. These are sophisticated, plaintiff-side cases that hold employers, plan committees, and other fiduciaries accountable for excessive fees, self-dealing, imprudent investments, and other breaches of the duties they owe. If you believe your retirement plan has been mismanaged, we can help you understand your rights.
Find out whether your plan may have been mismanaged—free and in confidence. Call 1-800-529-6162 (phones answered 24/7) or request a free, confidential consultation online. There is no fee unless we win your case.
What Is ERISA, and What Does It Require?
ERISA—the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974—is the federal law that governs most private-sector employee benefit plans, including 401(k) and other retirement plans. ERISA was enacted to protect plan participants, and it imposes some of the strictest standards in all of American law on the people who manage these plans, known as fiduciaries.
Under ERISA, a fiduciary must act:
- Prudently — with the care, skill, and diligence of a knowledgeable expert, in selecting and monitoring the plan's investments and service providers.
- Solely in the interest of participants — with undivided loyalty to the people the plan serves, not to the employer, the fiduciary, or any service provider.
- In accordance with the plan documents and applicable law.
- To control costs, ensuring that the fees participants pay are reasonable.
These are demanding obligations, and ERISA gives participants the right to enforce them in federal court. When a fiduciary falls short and the plan and its participants suffer losses, ERISA provides powerful remedies—including the recovery of those losses on behalf of the plan.
Common ERISA and 401(k) Violations
ERISA litigation typically arises from one or more of the following breaches. Each reflects a failure of the duties of prudence and loyalty that fiduciaries owe.
Excessive fees
Every dollar paid in unnecessary fees is a dollar that does not compound for a participant's retirement—and over a career, excessive fees can cost participants tens of thousands of dollars. Fiduciaries have a duty to ensure that the recordkeeping and administrative fees and investment management fees charged to the plan are reasonable. Allowing a plan to pay inflated fees, failing to monitor or benchmark those fees, or failing to use the plan's size to negotiate lower costs can be a breach.
Imprudent and underperforming investments
Fiduciaries must prudently select and monitor the plan's investment options. Retaining expensive, underperforming, or unsuitable funds—or failing to remove options that a prudent fiduciary would have replaced—can constitute a breach of duty.
Use of retail share classes
Large retirement plans can often access lower-cost institutional share classes of the same investment funds. When a plan instead offers higher-cost retail share classes, participants pay more for an identical investment—a frequent basis for excessive-fee claims.
Self-dealing and proprietary funds
A particularly serious category of breach involves self-dealing—where a fiduciary uses the plan to benefit itself. A common example is a financial-services employer that fills its own plan with its proprietary, in-house investment products, generating fees for the company at participants' expense, rather than offering the best available options.
Prohibited transactions
ERISA flatly prohibits certain transactions between a plan and "parties in interest," recognizing the conflicts of interest they create. Prohibited transactions can give rise to liability even without proof that the fiduciary acted in bad faith.
Investment mismanagement and failure to monitor
Beyond individual investments, fiduciaries must establish and follow a prudent process for overseeing the plan as a whole. A failure to monitor investments, fees, and service providers over time—or the absence of any meaningful process at all—can itself be a breach.
If any of this sounds like your plan, an experienced attorney can evaluate it at no cost. Call 1-800-529-6162 or request a consultation.
How Fiduciary Breaches Harm Participants
The harm in ERISA cases is financial, and it is often invisible until it is substantial. Excessive fees and imprudent investments do not announce themselves; they quietly reduce participants' account balances year after year, compounding into significant losses over a career. A difference of even a fraction of a percent in annual fees can translate into a dramatically smaller nest egg by retirement.
Because these losses accrue across an entire plan, they can affect hundreds or thousands of participants at once—which is why ERISA fiduciary-breach cases are frequently litigated as class actions brought on behalf of the plan and all of its participants. The goal is to restore to the plan the losses caused by the fiduciaries' breaches, and to hold those fiduciaries accountable for the duties they failed to honor.
Who Can Sue, and Who Can Be Held Responsible?
Who can bring a claim. ERISA allows plan participants and beneficiaries to sue to enforce the statute's protections and to recover losses on behalf of the plan. Claims are often brought on a representative basis on behalf of all similarly situated participants. The U.S. Department of Labor also has authority to enforce ERISA.
Who can be held responsible. ERISA liability turns on fiduciary status—on who exercises authority or control over the plan and its assets. Depending on the facts, responsible parties may include:
- The plan sponsor (the employer), where it acts as a fiduciary.
- The board of directors or the committee charged with overseeing the plan.
- Individual fiduciaries, including officers and committee members who exercise discretion over the plan.
- Service providers, in circumstances where they act as fiduciaries.
Identifying who acted as a fiduciary, and in what capacity, is a critical and often complex part of these cases—and it is part of what we evaluate.
Sorting out fiduciary responsibility is our work, not yours. Call 1-800-529-6162 or contact us online for a free, confidential review.
Plan Participant Rights and Employer Responsibilities
Understanding your rights as a participant—and your employer's responsibilities as a fiduciary—is the starting point for any ERISA matter.
As a participant, you have the right to a plan managed prudently and loyally, to reasonable fees, to prudently selected and monitored investment options, to certain plan information and disclosures, and to enforce these protections in federal court. You do not lose these rights simply because you are no longer employed by the company, and you do not need to prove that a fiduciary acted maliciously—ERISA focuses on the prudence and loyalty of the fiduciary's conduct and process.
As fiduciaries, employers and the individuals who run a plan take on serious legal responsibilities. They must put participants first, control costs, follow a prudent process, and avoid conflicts of interest and prohibited transactions. When they fail to meet these obligations, ERISA holds them personally accountable, and the law permits the recovery of the resulting losses for the plan.
Remedies in ERISA Litigation
ERISA provides meaningful remedies designed to make plans and participants whole. Depending on the case, available relief may include:
- Restoration of plan losses — recovering the losses the plan suffered as a result of the fiduciaries' breaches.
- Disgorgement of improper profits — requiring fiduciaries to give up profits obtained through their misconduct.
- Removal of breaching fiduciaries and other equitable relief to protect the plan going forward.
- Other appropriate equitable relief authorized by the statute.
ERISA also contains a fee-shifting provision that, in appropriate circumstances, can allow a prevailing participant to recover attorneys' fees and costs. We will explain the remedies that may apply to your situation.
Time Limits for ERISA Claims
ERISA claims are subject to specific time limits, which generally turn on when the breach occurred and when the participant had knowledge of it, subject to an overall outer limit. These rules are technical and fact-specific, and certain conduct—such as concealment—can affect them. Because the deadlines are complex and missing one can bar a claim, it is important to consult an attorney promptly if you believe your plan has been mismanaged. Acting early also helps preserve the plan and financial records these cases depend on.
Why Clients Trust Gilman & Bedigian
ERISA litigation is sophisticated, document-intensive, and defended by some of the largest corporations and most experienced defense firms in the country. It demands a firm with financial resources, analytical depth, and the willingness to litigate against well-funded opponents. Gilman & Bedigian brings exactly that.
We are a team of experienced trial attorneys, founded by Charles Gilman and Briggs Bedigian, who take on corporations and powerful institutions on behalf of the people they have wronged. We have recovered more than $800 million for our clients, and we are known as trial attorneys willing to take major institutions to court. Our results include some of the largest verdicts in Maryland and Pennsylvania history—among them a $182 million verdict and a $55 million verdict against Johns Hopkins Hospital—reflecting our proven ability to stand up to large, well-funded organizations and win. Our work has been recognized by the American Association for Justice, Super Lawyers, and an A-rating from the Better Business Bureau, and we have been featured by ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome; each case is different and must be evaluated on its own facts.
We explain complex matters in plain language, communicate promptly and clearly, and treat our clients with respect. With offices in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Texas, we handle ERISA and retirement-plan matters nationwide in cooperation with local counsel. And because we work on a contingency basis, there is no fee unless we recover for the plan and its participants—and we advance the substantial costs that this litigation requires.
Speak directly with an experienced attorney today. Call 1-800-529-6162 (answered 24/7) or request a free, confidential consultation. You can also review our results and learn about our attorneys.
Frequently Asked Questions About ERISA & 401(k) Litigation
What is ERISA, and how does it protect my retirement plan?
ERISA is the federal law governing most private-sector retirement plans. It requires the fiduciaries who manage a plan to act prudently, loyally, and solely in the interest of participants, and to ensure that fees are reasonable. It also gives participants the right to enforce these protections in federal court and to recover losses caused by fiduciary breaches.
What is a fiduciary breach?
A fiduciary breach occurs when someone with authority or control over a plan fails to meet ERISA's standards—for example, by allowing excessive fees, retaining imprudent investments, engaging in self-dealing, or failing to monitor the plan. ERISA holds fiduciaries personally accountable for breaches and permits recovery of the resulting plan losses.
How do excessive fees harm me if I'm still saving for retirement?
Excessive fees quietly reduce your account balance every year, and because of compounding, even small differences in fees can translate into tens of thousands of dollars less at retirement. Fiduciaries have a duty to ensure the fees participants pay are reasonable, and a failure to do so can be a breach.
Are these cases brought individually or as class actions?
Because fiduciary breaches typically affect an entire plan, ERISA fiduciary-breach cases are frequently brought as class actions on behalf of the plan and all similarly situated participants. The goal is usually to restore the plan's losses, which benefits the participants as a group.
Do I have to prove the fiduciary acted in bad faith?
Generally, no. ERISA focuses on the prudence and loyalty of the fiduciary's conduct and process, not on bad faith. A fiduciary can breach its duties through an imprudent process even without ill intent, and certain prohibited transactions can create liability regardless of intent.
Can I bring a claim if I no longer work for the employer?
Often, yes. Former employees who participated in a plan may still have standing to pursue claims for losses they suffered. Whether you can bring a claim depends on the facts, which an attorney can evaluate.
How much does it cost to hire an ERISA litigation attorney?
Gilman & Bedigian handles these matters on a contingency basis. There are no upfront costs, and you owe no attorney's fee unless we recover. We advance the substantial costs this litigation requires. Your consultation is free and confidential.
Is there a deadline to bring an ERISA claim?
Yes. ERISA claims are subject to specific time limits that turn on when the breach occurred and when you had knowledge of it, subject to an overall outer limit, with certain exceptions. Because these rules are technical and missing a deadline can bar a claim, it is important to consult an attorney promptly.
Corporate Fiduciaries Must Answer for Mismanaged Retirement Plans
Your retirement savings represent a lifetime of work, and the law requires the people who manage your plan to protect them. When fiduciaries break that trust—through excessive fees, self-dealing, or imprudent management—they should be held accountable, and the losses should be restored.
Gilman & Bedigian is here to help. We will evaluate your plan, analyze the conduct of its fiduciaries, and pursue accountability on behalf of participants. There is no cost to begin and no obligation.
Speak With an ERISA Litigation Attorney Today
- Free, confidential consultation and plan review
- Sophisticated, plaintiff-side ERISA and 401(k) litigation
- Experienced trial attorneys who take on corporate fiduciaries
- No fee unless we recover
If you believe your retirement plan has been mismanaged, contact Gilman & Bedigian. Call 1-800-529-6162 (answered 24/7) or request your free, confidential consultation.
