Putnam Beats Class Action Over In-House 401(k) Investments

Putnam Investments LLC defeated a class action challenging the allegedly high-fee proprietary investment funds in the company’s 401(k) plan (Brotherston v. Putnam Invs., LLC, 2017 BL 208765, D. Mass., No. 1:15-cv-13825-WGY, 6/19/17).

After a seven-day bench trial, a federal judge said the Putnam workers failed to identify any specific circumstances in which the company and its 401(k) plan put their own interests ahead of plan participants’. The workers also failed to show how Putnam’s allegedly imprudent actions—which included failing to monitor plan investments and remove those that were imprudent—caused them losses, the judge said in the June 19 ...