Nationwide Looks to Ax 401(k) Fund Class Ahead of Looming Trial

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. asked a federal judge in Ohio to unravel a 50,000-person class of employees suing over their 401(k) plan, saying a recent Fourth Circuit opinion shows class status isn’t workable.

Nationwide pointed to a March decision in which the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit blocked Genworth Financial Inc. employees from banding together as a certified class to challenge their retirement plan’s target-date funds. The goal of the Genworth workers’ lawsuit is obtaining money that would be added to individual 401(k) accounts, which is an individualized monetary claim that can’t be grouped together in a ...