On March 15 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down the DOL’s new fiduciary rule. The decision, in very sweeping terms, concluded that the DOL did not have the regulatory authority to expand the previous definition of “fiduciary” contained in 1975 regulations. The breadth of the Court’s ruling, if upheld, makes it virtually impossible for the DOL to somehow modify the fiduciary proposal or to issue new fiduciary rules.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the NYU retirement plans have filed an amended complaint. This new complaint challenges the use, by the plans’ recordkeeper, of participant confidential financial data and the recordkeeper’s cross-selling of non-plan financial products to plan participants.

The first round of court decisions has been issued in the fiduciary challenges to major colleges and universities. Overall, the courts have been allowed the core allegations - that the schools breached their fiduciary duties by allowing the plans to pay excessive fees – to continue. These decisions increase the likelihood that other schools will be subject to copycat fiduciary litigation.