Frontier Communications Fights Suit Over Verizon Stock in 401(k)

Frontier Communications Corp. wants a federal judge to toss a proposed class action challenging the Verizon Communications Inc. stock in its $2.5 billion 401(k) plan.

The lawsuit rests on a legal theory that has been rejected by “every court in which Plaintiff’s counsel has pled parallel allegations,” Frontier says in its April 19 motion to dismiss. Nothing in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act obligates retirement plans to force workers to sell off the stock of a former employer, the company says.

The case is part of a recent series of ERISA lawsuits targeting employers that allow the stock of ...