Plaintiffs’ Suit Thrown Out When Pension Plan Became Overfunded

Recently, a group of defined benefit pension plan participants sued their plan for breach of fiduciary duty after the plan lost $1.1 billion. The plaintiffs claimed that the loss was due to imprudent investments. However, during the course of the litigation, the plan recovered from the losses and returned to overfunded status. The plan moved to dismiss the suit arguing that the plaintiffs were no longer suffering any harm. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, holding that a plan participant of an overfunded defined benefit pension plan is not authorized to bring suit under ERISA for breach of fiduciary duty.

Thole v. U.S. Bank, Nat’l Ass’n, No. 16–1928, 2017 WL 4544953 (8th Cir. Oct. 12, 2017).