‘Stale Lawsuits’
Edison says the use of the word “action” in the statute means an employer generally can’t be sued for failure to remove a fund. The only exception is when a change in circumstances imposes a duty on plan administrators to revisit an investment decision, the company says.
“Congress did not enact ERISA to facilitate and promote costly benefit-plan lawsuits, especially stale lawsuits challenging plan decisions made many years earlier,” Edison’s lawyer, Jonathan Hacker, argued. Edison is based in Rosemead, California.
Schlichter and his firm, Schlichter Bogard & Denton, are behind more than a dozen suits over 401(k) plans, including cases against Lockheed, ABB and Caterpillar Inc. The law firm reached a $35 million settlement with Cigna Corp. and a $30 million settlement with International Paper Co.
The justices will hear arguments early next year and rule by the end of their nine-month term in late June.
The case is Tibble v. Edison International, 13-550.