Boley v. Universal Health Servs.

Boley v. Universal Health Servs.

Opinion

 [*128]  OPINION OF THE COURT

SCIRICA, Circuit Judge

In this interlocutory appeal, fiduciaries of a retirement plan appeal the District Court's certification of a class of participants who allege the fiduciaries breached their duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"). At issue in this case is whether the typicality requirement of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) is satisfied when the class representatives [**2]  did not invest in each of a defined contribution retirement plan's available investment options.

We will affirm. Because the class representatives allege actions or a course of conduct by ERISA fiduciaries that affected multiple funds in the same way, their claims are typical of those of the class.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Universal Health Services, Inc. sponsors the Universal Health Services, Inc., Retirement Savings Plan (the "Plan"), a defined contribution retirement plan,² in which qualified employees can participate and invest a portion of their paycheck in selected investment options. The Plan's investment options and administrative arrangements are chosen and ratified by the UHS Retirement Plans Investment Committee (the "Committee"). The Committee is appointed and overseen by Universal. Both Universal and the Committee serve as the Plan's fiduciaries and administrators (collectively, "Universal").

Since 2014, the Plan's available investment options consisted of thirty-seven funds, including mutual funds and a collective investment trust. As with most investment funds, the Plan funds charge participants annual management fees. The Plan also charges participants an annual [**3]  recordkeeping and administrative fee. Each year, every investor in the Plan would pay the annual recordkeeping and administrative fee, plus the additional fees associated with whichever investment fund or funds in which he or she chose to invest.

Among the investment options is the Fidelity Freedom Fund suite, consisting of thirteen target date funds. Target date funds are managed funds that shift in investment  [*129]  strategy as a target retirement year approaches. The Fidelity Freedom Fund suite was designated as the Plan's Qualified Default Investment Alternative, meaning Universal would automatically invest Plan participants' money in one of the thirteen Fidelity Freedom Funds if no other investment selection was made.

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