Fidelity Defeats 401(k) Self-Dealing Claims in First Circuit

Fidelity Investments scored a big legal victory Friday, when the First Circuit ruled that the company can’t be liable as an ERISA fiduciary for charging “infrastructure fees” to the mutual funds that appear on its 401(k) investment platform.

The court’s decision turned on whether Fidelity—whose FundsNetwork platform provides investment options for tens of thousands of retirement plans—acts as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act with respect to these retirement plans when it collects infrastructure fees from the funds on the platform.

Participants in T-Mobile USA’s 401(k) plan claimed the fees Fidelity charges mutual funds are ultimately passed ...