![]() MandMarblestone Group, LLC-a May 2019 opinion in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania that determined an ERISA plan’s record keeper and TPA could be held liable for breach of fiduciary duty in failing to enact prudent procedures and safeguards to protect the plan and participants from cybercriminals following a plan data breach. ![]() Bartnett adequately pled a fiduciary claim against Alight, the Court followed the logic of Leventhal v. How the Court reached this conclusion is instructive. Bartnett’s claims against the Abbott defendants. Bartnett only stated a claim for ERISA fiduciary breach against Alight Solutions and dismissed all of Ms. Bartnett’s Plan account to an unknown person impersonating Ms. Bartnett specifically alleged Alight Solutions was the entity that imprudently processed the $245,000 distribution from Ms. Bartnett plausibly stated ERISA fiduciary breach claims against the following sets of defendants: (1) her employer, Abbott Laboratories (2) the purported Plan administrator, an entity she termed “Abbott Corporate Benefits ” (3) the Plan itself (4) Abbott employee, Marlon Sullivan and (5) the Plan’s “contract administrator,” Alight Solutions. The Abbott Court weighed first whether Ms. Liability both under ERISA and state law could lead to double or alternative recoveries for plan participants, and subject plan fiduciaries to state consumer fraud statutes that allow for compensatory and punitive damages.Ĭourt Says TPA Is an ERISA Fiduciary For “Operating” Benefit Distribution Center The result of the Abbott decision has serious implications. ![]() The opinion is unique because it raises important questions-not just about the scope of a TPA’s ERISA fiduciary liability for distributing plan benefits that end up in a cyber criminal’s pocket-but whether ERISA plan TPA’s can be sued for both ERISA fiduciary breach claims and state law consumer fraud claims resulting from the same alleged misconduct: the failure to enact cybersecurity procedures that prevent the theft of plan assets. Abbott Laboratories, et al., ruled that Alight Solutions, the TPA of the Abbott Corporate Benefits Stock Retirement Plan (the “Plan”), could be held liable for both an ERISA fiduciary breach claim and a claim pursuant to the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act (ICFA) and it dismissed the Abbott affiliated defendants from the case (for now). On October 2, 2020, the Northern District of Illinois, in Bartnett v. Another court has decided which ERISA plan fiduciaries can be held liable in connection with a data breach of a plan participant’s account.
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