Northrop Retiree Gets Partial Ninth Circuit Win in Pension Suit

A proposed class action accusing Northrop Grumman Corp. and Alight Solutions of misleading Northrop employees about the size of their pensions can move forward under state law but not the fiduciary rules of federal benefits law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday.

A third-party benefits administrator that calculates a plan participant’s benefits under a pre-set formula isn’t performing a fiduciary function that could give rise to liability under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Ninth Circuit ruled. Because Alight wasn’t acting as an ERISA fiduciary when it gave the Northrop workers “grossly overestimated” benefit ...