John Hancock Agrees to 9,800-Person Class in 401(k) Fund Suit

John Hancock Life Insurance Co. agreed to litigate a dispute over the affiliated investment options in its 401(k) plan as a certified class action covering about 9,800 people, the plan participants told a federal judge in Boston.

The participants’ unopposed motion for class certification, filed Feb. 12 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, comes seven months after Judge Richard G. Stearns allowed the entirety of Jennifer Baker’s proposed class action under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to move forward over John Hancock’s motion to dismiss. Baker claims John Hancock mismanaged its workers’ 401(k) plan ...