ERISA Litigation: How Poor (and Long) Must Poorer Investment Performance Be?

Several recent cases found dismissal appropriate in ERISA litigation alleging fiduciary breach for failing to adequently review (and eliminate allegedly underperforming) plan investments. The Beldock v. Microsoft Corp. court applied a heightened standard for pleading a survivable claim of imprudent selection and monitoring of investments.  Recent similar dismissals with prejudice held that performance-only allegations could not survive dismissal. However, in those cases the courts still analyzed plaintiffs' benchmark comparators, concluding that they were not meaningful. Not here! See why the Beldock decision held for defendants without addressing the question of whether plaintiffs presented meaningful comparators to performance of the Funds.

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