Steel Dynamics Wins Reprieve From Workers’ 401(k) Fund Challenge

Steel Dynamics Inc. defeated a proposed class action by workers who say the Indiana steel producer improperly fills its 401(k) plan with pricey and poorly performing funds.

The workers didn’t show that Steel Dynamics used a flawed process for monitoring the plan or that the challenged funds had the kind of “persistent and material underperformance” that would sustain a fiduciary breach claim, Judge Cristal C. Brisco of the US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana said Thursday.

“Without a showing of material underperformance, all Plaintiffs show is that certain investments, in hindsight, performed better than the Challenged Funds, ...