The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a lawsuit alleging that Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Co. violated ERISA in the management of a stable value fund.
The court, without comment, declined to take the case, John Teets vs. Great-West Life & Annuity Co. Mr. Teets is a participant in the Farmers' Rice Cooperative 401(k) Savings Plan, but the sponsor was not a defendant.
Great-West provided record-keeping, administrative and investment services to the sponsor as well as a stable value fund. Mr. Teets alleged that Great-West's setting of a stable value fund's terms violated ERISA because it favored Great-West's profits "at the expense of participants who invest in its fund," according to court documents.
Mr. Teets sued Great-West in June 2014. In December 2017, a U.S. District Court judge in Denver granted Great-West's motion for summary judgment, saying that Great-West was not a fiduciary.
Mr. Teets appealed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Denver, which upheld the district court's decision in March 2019. Mr. Teets petitioned the Supreme Court in September.
