Service Provider Fee Cases: Principal Prevails in Ruppert Case; Class Certification Granted in Haddock v. Nationwide; John Hancock Settles Charters Lawsuit

Although the appellate rulings in the 401(k) fee cases against Wal-Mart and United Technologies have received the most attention in recent weeks, there also has been a series of important developments in the fee cases that plan trustees filed against service providers. In November, a district court granted Principal’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in Ruppert v. Principal Life Ins. Co. Separately, the district court in Haddock v. Nationwide Financial Services certified a plaintiff class consisting of the trustees of an estimated 24,000 plans that had variable annuity contracts (or whose participants had individual variable annuity contracts ) with Nationwide. Also, in August, the Charters v. John Hancock Life Ins. Co. matter settled and the lawsuit was dismissed. The attached memo provides further information on these developments.