MIT Settles Retirement Plan Class Action Days Before Trial

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has settled a lawsuit challenging its retirement plan four days before the case was scheduled for trial, the parties told a federal judge in Boston Sept. 12.

The deal ends a 16,000-person class action accusing MIT of charging excessive retirement plan fees and enriching itself through an overly-cozy relationship with Fidelity Investments. The plan participants say the school allowed the plan to pay excessive fees to Fidelity in order to please—and thus receive donations from—Fidelity CEO Abigail P. Johnson and her family.

Details of the settlement will be made public in late October, the parties said. ...