A $2 million settlement between Massachusetts-based Southcoast Hospitals Group Inc. and employees who say their $886 million retirement plan was mismanaged received final federal court approval, as did a $666,600 attorneys’ fee award for the employees’ lawyers.
The settlement resolves an 11-month-old lawsuit claiming Southcoast plan fiduciaries failed to adequately monitor the fees and performance of the plan’s investment options or take action to rein in the plan’s “astronomical” record keeping fees. Between 5,000 and 10,000 plan participants will benefit under the deal, according to the parties’ settlement papers.
Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts signed the final approval order Monday. In a separate order, he awarded class counsel all of their requested attorneys’ fees, along with $11,466 in litigation expenses.
More than 170 lawsuits challenging 401(k) plan fees have been filed in federal courts since 2020. About 20 of these cases have settled, with settling employers including health technology company Cerner Corp. ($4.05 million), Koch Industries Inc. ($4 million), Mercy Health Corp. ($3.9 million), and Michigan’s Bronson Healthcare Group Inc. ($3 million).
The Southcoast plan participants are represented by Capozzi Adler PC and Jeffrey Hellman of New Haven, Conn. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP represents Southcoast.
The case is Harding v. Southcoast Hosps. Grp., D. Mass., No. 1:20-cv-12216, final approval order 4/25/22.
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