A federal judge in New York rejected a petition by New York Life Insurance Co. to dismiss all claims by a current and former employee, who alleged fiduciaries mismanaged two retirement plans in violation of ERISA.
Although he supported some of the defendants' motion to dismiss, U.S. District Court Judge Jesse M. Furman ruled Wednesday that other allegations could proceed to trial regarding claims of self-dealing and poor-performing, high-fee investments.
For example, the plaintiffs alleged that fiduciaries violated ERISA by retaining nine MainStay funds that were poor performers compared with benchmarks and cost more than comparable investments in the marketplace. These funds are proprietary New York Life investments.
Mr. Furman rejected defendants' motion to dismiss for eight of the nine funds, saying the plaintiffs' allegations "support a reasonable inference" that the fiduciaries used a flawed process to retain the funds. "Defendants counterarguments are unavailing," he wrote.
The judge also agreed with the plaintiffs' allegation that the use of the MainStay funds violated ERISA's conflict-of-interest provisions. This allegation "plausibly alleges" a fiduciary breach, Mr. Furman wrote.
The original complaint, which was later amended, was filed in March 2021 seeking class-action status.
New York Life Insurance Co. Employee Progress-Sharing Investment Plan, New York, had $3.9 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2020, and New York Life Agents Progress-Sharing Investment Plan, New York, had $921 million in assets as of Dec. 31, 2020, both according to the latest Form 5500s.
